Makes a whole lot more sense than a new building downtown. Cheaper. The Aud is a sound structure. Likely would do the same expansion on the penalty box side that they did on the players bench side.
It probably made sense financially to have done it years ago when it could have been built at a fraction of todays prices.
That 300 million dollar rink in Sudbury I believe will seat under 6000. More than double that for something seating 10 to 12 thousand.
Oh if we could go back in time I would buy 5 houses in the Region haha. Todays price on everything is wild.
I heard scuttlebutt from people who live right by the Aud that there was some talk of the Aud site being converted into a hospital site, with a new arena being built. I personally can't imagine there are any legs to it. This makes it seems even less likely, but thought it was worth passing on here.
Need or want?
Most would think a new hospital would trump a sports and entertainment center.
Historically, first round playoff games at the Aud have been poorly attended. You’d see 4000+ for first round games. This year, we had nearly full buildings for every playoff home date.
It would have to be a multi-level government project with significant Prov/Fed participation.
Lol!!It would have to be a multi-level government project with significant Prov/Fed participation.
We choked on repaying that $9mil loan (from 2012) during COVID then renegotiated, extending the term out to 2030. We're also paying off the remainder of a 'business continuance' loan from shutdown for the same period. As flush as we run during the season, we'll never have adequate cashflow or reserves as a not-for-profit to pay 10s/100s of millions for AUD improvements & I doubt that we have the demand elasticity to significantly crank ticket prices even if only our rent increased.
Not sure how often a thousand extra seats would have even been necessary since hosting in 2008. Even in recent sellouts there's lots of unoccupied STH & blue seats. Definitely need something new eventually, likely with dozens of dedicated bike access lanes and a few hundred EV chargers
I'd. say it will be a need at some point. Waterloo Region is losing a lot of people to Toronto and other bigger Cities that have more to offer in terms of 'placemaking'. Sure there are solid places 1 hour or so outside of the City, but at the end of the day, Waterloo Region has aspirations of growing into something bigger and better.
This has legs. It would be a massive project that takes 20+ years. I work adjacent to the Urban Planning industry and have heard the rumours of this project for years. There are a couple of groups taking the next steps to get this thing off the ground.
People in that age group are likely leaving the area for a couple reasons. Employment and affordable housing.
Oh I agree on the housing front - it's brutal here. I fall in that population bracket and I'm unsure how i will ever afford to actually own here...
No, they won't. The cost and voter outcry would be too high.
People either sell in the GTA and buy cheaper here or are new home buyers from that area looking for more affordable housing. GTA housing prices are ridiculous. A half million dollar house here is a million 30 miles from here where the GTA encompasses. A relatives old house there just went on the market for 1 million. Probably not worth 300 grand. Anyway getting off track. Back to the Aud.
Voter outcry never stopped them before. Expropriation is a part of life in the city.
It's not a city or Region choice..
