Report on Aud expansion delayed
Posted Mar 22, 2011 03:09:13 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Hockey fans anxious for a larger arena in Kitchener will have to be patient for awhile longer.
The city’s Community Services Committee accepted a staff report yesterday that could delay a project to expand The Aud by as much as six months.
Last June, the Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club approached council with a proposal to renovate and expand the Memorial Auditorium, adding approximately 3000 more seats. A staff report analyzing various options was due back to council this spring.
But citing “other significant corporate projects” such as the Consolidated Maintenance Facility on Wilson Avenue and recent staff involvement with the 2011 budget, Kitchener’s Community Services Department has issued a revised timeline for the report.
“Construction was never planned to begin this summer anyway. It would be the following summer,” explains Kitchener Rangers Chief Operating Officer Steve Bienkowski. “So whether the report comes to council in March or September, the timeline is not affected too much.”
Bienkowski says the Rangers are happy with how the project is progressing, adding that he expects the team to be a “longterm partner with the city.” But he admits the project has been the subject of questions from season ticket holders and, since the team will be making a significant financial pledge to the project, he’s always anxious for up-to-date information.
That said, Bienkowski is firmly behind the city despite this delay.
“The whole idea, originally, was to get back (to council) by January or February,” Bienkowski notes. “But the one thing we want to make sure of — and we’re in agreement with (city) staff — is that we’ve done all our work.”
According to the staff report, the city was to work with a number of consultants to undertake studies and consider various options. That meant reviewing the Rangers proposal for an expanded Auditorium to determine if it’s feasible, considering the possibility of a brand new arena, and consulting with the public.
Bienkowski acknowledges that a new arena is still an option the city may consider. But he believes the viability of that option will depend on the funding gap between the cost of a renovated and expanded building and the cost of a new facility.
When Bienkowski and other Rangers executives first approached council last summer, the cost projections for a new arena were between $130-$150-million while a renovation could be accomplished for less than $50-million.
It remains to be seen if the final staff report from the city reinforces those figures or raises any new wrinkles. But Bienkowski believes this is just another step in the process of due diligence.
“We want to make sure whatever idea we bring forward is solid and there are no surprises,” he says.
We’ll just have to wait several months more to find out how solid that idea is.
To read more about the original proposal Bienkowski and the Rangers made to Kitchener City Council, including a video of what an expanded Aud could look like, just follow this link.
