Downtown Arena Update

7/31/2019 Downtown Arena Update

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ROUTING - City Council | DELEGATION R. DavissWRITTEN BY R. Daviss| July 17, 2012 Sustainable Development 2012SCO546

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Downtown ArenaUpdate

Recommendation:That Administration proceed with DesignDevelopment based upon the SchematicDesign presented to City Council May16, 2012, and on the $450 million ArenaProject budget.

Report Summary

This report provides the results ofthe Public Engagement Program forthe Arena Design and an update on

arena cost estimates and requestsapproval to proceed with designdevelopment.

Report

This report provides the results of thepublic engagement program,highlighting the key comments that wereraised by the public regarding theProject. It also provides an update onthe arena cost estimates.

Design Activities:

The Architectural team, led by 360Architecture has completed the 100percent Schematic Design.

Administration is recommending theteam advance to the DesignDevelopment phase, in order toproduce a Guaranteed MaximumPrice by the end of the year.

PCL Construction Management,

retained through a Request forProposals Process as theConstruction Manager, will beresponsible for the development ofthe Guaranteed Maximum Price.

As the project continues throughDesign Development, cost saving

opportunities will be pursued toachieve the $450 million budget.Before proceeding with construction,the City and Edmonton Arena Corp.must agree on the GuaranteedMaximum Price proposed and on afinal project budget. If agreement isnot reached, then either party canstop the process.

Public Engagement The firm of Calder Bateman was

retained to continue with thecoordination of the second stage ofpublic engagement, following up fromthe public meetings that were heldduring 2010. This included aStakeholder Meeting, publicmeetings, and an on-line survey. Theresults of the public engagementprogram are outlined in Attachment 1.Generally, the schematic design hasreceived positive feedback from thepublic as well as from the EdmontonDesign Committee.

Stakeholder Meeting: A Community Stakeholder Meeting

was held with representatives fromthe downtown and surrounding areaCommunity Leagues, the Federationof Community Leagues anddowntown community supportagencies on May 24, 2012. Themeeting included a presentation ofthe Schematic Design by the Project

Architect followed by a discussion ofkey areas of concern andsuggestions.

Concerns that were raised included:ensuring the public infrastructure(including the community rink) wasfunded, adequacy of parking in thearea, exterior materials (desire formore colour), integration with theneighbourhood to the north, need for

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Downtown Arena Update

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greater street level interaction on104 Avenue, and a desire that thepublic space (including the WinterGarden) be a welcomingenvironment.

Public Information Exchanges Open Houses were held May 29,

and June 5, 6, and 7, 2012, at fourdifferent locations in Edmonton(Santa Maria Goretti Centre,Terwillegar Recreation Centre, GrantMacEwan Campus Mill Woods,and Grant MacEwan Campus CityCentre. A total of 248 individualsregistered at the Open Houses.

Feedback was obtained throughdiscussions and submission ofwritten comments that werecollected by City staff at themeetings.

Overall, the public response to thedesign was very favourable. Thefeedback suggests that the publicgenuinely felt that their input fromthe previous round of discussionshad an impact and influenced thedesign of the facility and surroundingarea.

On-Line Survey Results An on-line survey on the Citys

website was used as a primary toolto collect public feedback. Thesurvey contained six themed topicsand citizens were able to respond toall areas or individual areas. In total,approximately 7000 responses werereceived. The theme attracting thegreatest interest was exteriorvisuals, which garnered 1766responses. The breakdown of thesubmissions received for each of thesix themed areas is outlined in

Attachment 1.

Over 80 percent of the respondentsagreed that the Arena would be alandmark for the City with 78 percentadvising that the design wouldenhance the visual attractiveness ofthe area.

Over three quarters of therespondents felt that the publicspace in the Winter Garden wouldbenefit Edmontonians and similarlyover 75 percent of respondents felt iteffectively connected the north andsouth sides of 104 Avenue.

Over three quarters of the surveyrespondents also agreed that theCommunity Rink would providevalued recreation opportunities forthe downtown and surroundingareas.

Similarly, approximately 75 percentof respondents felt that the concernover integration into the communitywas achieved and that the arena willbe well connected to theneighbourhoods and businessesaround the arena.

Finally, with respect to transportationconcerns, 62 percent of respondentswere satisfied that the road systemwould accommodate the traffic and58 percent felt that the parking wasadequate.

The most favourable aspects wereconsidered to be: the exterior designitself as iconic, the designs potentialto revitalize the downtown, and theinclusion of a community rink.

Concerns included: ensuring thebudget did not escalate above$450 million, greater opportunity forinteraction along 104 Ave (eg morestorefronts), public programming onthe Winter Garden, and the pursuitof environmental sustainability.


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Community Benefits There are Five Components of the

Community Benefits Framework:- Community Committee- Good Neighbour Approach- Employment During Construction

-Employment During ArenaOperations

- Support for the Community(Oilers Community Foundation)

In addition to the Frameworkelements, the development of theCommunity Arena has beenembraced by the public and isperceived to be a substantive benefitto the neighbourhood provided thepublic use of the facility is assured.In addition, the public access to theCommunity rink that is providedthrough the pedestrian corridor, andopportunity for the general public toview Oiler practice sessions at nocost has been well received.

Financial Elements All the work being carried out by the

Design Team towards thecompletion of the Schematic Design,Design Development, andGuaranteed Maximum Price,including the work of ICON, 360

Architecture, PCL, and CalderBateman, is included within the $30million Design Budget (which in turnis included within the $450 millionproject budget).

Since the initial cost estimates forthe arena project were submitted,work has been undertaken to reducecost. A number of program elementshave been modified or removed.They include:- removal of the Oiler Team Store,- changing the exterior finish from

zinc to stainless steel,

- removal of some food andbeverage facilities, and

- replacing the terrazzo flooring onthe second concourse withpolished concrete.

The latest cost estimate for theArena and related infrastructure (asof July 10, 2012) is as follows:

Element CostEstimate

Budget

Arena $485 m* $450mWinterGarden

$80 m $50m

LRT Link $7m $17mPedestrianCorridor

$15m $15m

Land $21m* $25m

* Subject to parking resolution

Cost estimates at this stage ofdesign are considered to be plus orminus 20 percent. The project costdoes include $21 million incontingency.

Additional elements are also beingvalue engineered by the DesignTeam with an expectation that afurther reduction of $8.5 million isanticipated, which would reduce theestimated costs down to $476.5million.

One reason for the higher projectedcost is due to the change in designof moving the arena to the west ofthe site and placing the parkingunderground. This change hasenhanced the appearance of thearena; effectively making the sitemore walkable and pedestrianfriendly (with the addition of 102Street), providing a facility that hasno back door, screening the truckloading from the public, and enablingthe City to sell more land (which wasintended to be used for the parkade)


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for more street oriented retaildevelopment. This would reduce theCitys cost for the land from$25 million to $21 (subject to aresolution to reducing undergroundparking). The land cost is outside ofthe $450 million budget for thearena.

Work continues on reducing the costof the Winter Garden as well, but theCitys commitment is $25 million.

In keeping with the programdefinition in the Interim Design

Agreement the amount estimated forthe Furniture Fixtures andEquipment Component would bereduced by $5.4 million and the teamand performer facilities would bereduced by $3 million for a total of$8.4 million reducing the estimatedcost to $468.1 million.

Additional opportunities to reducecosts suggested by Administrationand being pursued by the DesignTeam include:- Reducing Underground Parking

by 50 percent for a reduction of$10 million.

-Modifying exterior finishing for areduction of $12 million. Thisopportunity could includechanging the finish of thebuilding, simplifying the designand changing the roof material.

- These two opportunities total$22 million further reducing theestimated cost to $446.1 million.

As indicated, the total of all of thesestrategies is $38.9 million.

In addition through the DesignDevelopment phase, the DesignTeam will continue their efforts toidentify other opportunities, includinginterior design changes, to allow forthe cost reductions to occur in theareas that will have the least

significant impact on the overallfacility.

While efforts to reduce costs willcontinue throughout the designdevelopment phase, the ProjectManager is suggesting that it isunlikely that the GuaranteedMaximum Price and Project Budgetwill be $450 million or less unlesschanges such as those suggestedabove are pursued. None of the costsaving measures identified aboverequire significant redesign.Strategies that would require majorredesign were avoided as there is astrong likelihood that any potentialcost savings that might be realizedwould be significantly erodedthrough increases in constructioncosts due to delays.

The cost estimate for the LRT link islower than the budget by $10 million.Given the public support for theCommunity Rink, Administrationrecommends that the saving fromthis public infrastructure element beapplied to the Community Rink,which is currently unfunded. The

Community Rink was originallyproposed to be funded equally by thethree orders of Government with anestimated cost of $21 million. Whilethe current cost estimate for thefacility is $26 million, efforts areunderway by the Design Team tomodify the design to achieveconstruction of the facility within the$21 million target.

In the event that the decision is

made to proceed to designdevelopment as presented, andultimately the costs cannot bebrought back in line with the targetbudget of $450 million, there needsto be an understanding as to theapproach to address additional


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costs. To date, neither party hasagreed to assume any additionalcosts.

Agreements

The complexity of the Arena Projecthas necessitated the production of anumber of Agreements in addition tothe Master Agreement. Theyinclude:- Master Agreement- Lease Agreement- Location Agreement- Sponsorship Agreement- Land Inventory Amending

Agreement- Tax Agreement

-Ticket Surcharge Agreement

- Construction AdministrationAgreement

Administration is planning onpresenting the full suite ofagreements to a special meeting ofCouncil prior to the end of the thirdQuarter for full discussion in advanceof requesting formal approval of theMaster Agreement.

Timelines and Targets July 17, 2012 Council

consideration of Results of PublicEngagement Program and Approvalof Schematic Design

September/October, 2012 approval of Master Agreement and

Ancillary Agreements September, November, 2012:

Status reports to City Council

January, 2013 Councilconsideration of the 60 per centDesign and Guaranteed MaximumPrice

Corporate Outcomes

Improve Edmontons Liveability Transform Edmontons Urban Form

Justification of Recommendation:

The Schematic Design was presented tothe general public and has received a

favourable response. While theprojected costs are currently higher thanthe budget, a number of options havebeen identified to reduce the cost tomeet the $450 million maximum budget.

Attachments

1. Designing a New Arena forEdmonton A Summary of Viewsfrom the Public

Others Reviewing this Report

D. H. Edey, General Manager,Corporate Services

L. Rosen, Chief Financial Officer andTreasurer

L. Cochrane, General Manager,Community Services

Documents

Downtown Arena Update