Hear City Centre redevelopment executive director Ron Taylor speak with MyMcMurray’s Tyler King about the Request for Proposals being issued: [audio:http://pmd.country933.com/audio/tyler-news/arena/ron-taylor-arena-rfp.mp3]
Fort McMurray’s downtown arena project has entered the next stage.
The city has sent out a request for proposals to 4 companies it shortlisted as proponents to design, build, own and operate the “Sports and Entertainment Centre.”
They’ll have to come up with detailed designs for the building at Franklin and Morrison, as well as the surrounding land.
The RFP says the arena has to have a minimum of 7,000 seats, with 1,500 floor seats.
City centre redevelopment executive director Ron Taylor says he doesn’t expect the arena to leave taxpayers on the hook.
“We are looking to the proponent to minimize the financial commitment the municipality makes to the project,” he said. “And we’re looking for the proponents to, in effect, transfer risk from the municipality, to the private sector proponent.”
Taylor also says they’ll have public open houses with the 4 proponents starting in September, to allow everyone a say in what the arena looks like.
He adds that retail developments will be a major requirement of the design.
“We’re looking for the proponent to maximize the amount of retail,” he said, “in part to respond to the deficit of retail that we have in Fort McMurray and the City Centre, in part to provide an urban animation of the streets around this building.”
Taylor also says the public will have a major say in what the final design looks like.
“We’re going to create opportunities for the proponents to hear from the community,” he said. “We’re looking to do several open houses with the proponents through the process; the first one being in September.”
The deadline for the arena proposals is November 14th, after which more public consultation would happen before the final design is selected.
Learn About the Four Arena Proponents:
Read the full Request for Proposals.
August 1, 2013
