A plan to pay for a new arena and TCU Place renovation was first expected in November 2023.
City staff will be asking council to wait another two weeks to see a plan to pay for a proposed downtown event and entertainment district.
The DEED funding plan is a key document for council to consider; approval would direct city staff to begin work on lining up federal and provincial contributions and pursuing legislative tweaks needed at the provincial level to cover the cost of a new downtown arena, a substantial renovation to the TCU Place convention centre and surrounding public amenities like plazas and green spaces.
A report to be discussed at council’s July 31 meeting requests additional time to allow city staff to wrap up talks with a private partner who will put up money for construction in exchange for the opportunity to take on operation of one or possibly both the arena and convention centre.
The report notes the private firm couldn’t have a representative available on July 31, but can have someone present for the new proposed date of Aug. 14.
At that time, council is expected to hear the funding plan, and receive an updated cost estimate for the project.
A 2018 consultant’s report estimated the combined cost of an arena and convention centre at between $330 million and $375 million; the updated numbers will need to account for high inflation in the construction industry in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic.
City planners had first proposed to present council with the strategy by November 2023. The presentation has been delayed multiple times, as staff have worked to assemble information to help council make a decision.
While the specifics of the plan remain to be seen, previous reports to council have hinted at the options the city can pursue. Council previously directed that any DEED funding plan cannot rely on property tax hikes; the city must instead use other strategies, some of which would need the province’s approval.
These include a ticket surcharge on events at the new facilities and the use of a tool known as tax increment financing (TIF), where the city would borrow against the projected increase in property tax revenue expected to accrue from private development drawn to the area around the DEED.
A September 2023 report from accounting firm KPMG suggested the city could raise as much as $21.4 million per year without increasing property tax increases using tools like TIF and surcharges.
These options have been successful elsewhere, notably in downtown Edmonton, where TIF and event ticket surcharges helped pay for the Ice District, including the Rogers Place arena.
They’ve also pointed to the development of what’s now Princess Auto Field in Winnipeg, where Manitoba provincial taxpayers ended up having to absorb some $200 million in loans when revenues didn’t roll in from the project as expected.
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