I saw a portion of an article on Canada.com today about the possibility of a new Oilers arena in D/T Edmonton. I think is this a great idea! Certainly would bring new life to downtown. What does everyone think, any sujestions on where it should be?

If built I think right on Jasper between the ParliamentBuildings and the office core.
Not 2 blocks from Jasper but right on it to bring that once great street back to its formal glory.
It will never be a St.Chatherines or Yonge but it could still be a pretty busy "main drag", something residential can revolve around.

Absolutely. Downtown would be great for a badly needed new arena for the Oilers.

I don't know. They built the LRT to stop at its current location. Where in Downtown could they put it realistically that has the space and locality to an LRT station?

Also, if you look at some places like Toronto or Calgary, you can see that immediately surrounding the stadium, its' pretty dead most of the time IMHO. I say keep it where it is.

"Also, if you look at some places like Toronto or Calgary, you can see that immediately surrounding the stadium, its' pretty dead most of the time IMHO. I say keep it where it is."
That's because it's Toronto and Calgary :okay: :wink2: :wink2: :cheers1:

Seriously though, The bell Center is Right in the middle of Downtown Montreal, and there are bars and Restaurants right next door, which allows the Area to remain pretty full even after a game!

The most ideal place will be on Jasper between 106st and 107st where the huge parking lot is.
What I am picturing is a state-of-the-art 19000-seat hockey arena should take up the entire block.

-lots of brick and glass to blend in with the warehouse district.
-Super-easy access to Corona LRT station.
-way more skybox seats. Probably 3X as much as Rexall.
-retail space on the North and South end of the arena to add life to the block throughout the year.
-6 storey office tower on the South end as to provide room for the concession area.
-2 condo towers to locate on the corners of the North end.
-107st closure during major events other than Oilers game nights.
-106st and 107st closure during Oilers game nights.
-Only one plus-15 pedway is needed unfortunately to cross 106st from the southeast corner of the arena.

What is your ideal location? What are you picturing?

the area around gm place and bc place in vancouver isn't dead... isn't there like condos and stuff all around them?

I think if you could build it right on Jasper with the area fronting onto Jasper with retail on the main you dont kill the block. It would go on 106 and 107 street and maybe cutting off some of the street if needbe. There is lots of land there though. Plus the LRT station is right there. Currently there are several bars already in the area and the restaurants are increasing as well so this would be great year round as you would have added activity in the core. Plus with the continuing revitalization downtown you would have thousands there all the time. I think this would really make Jasper Ave go. The real advantage we have in Edmonton is there is lots of residential going in amongst the office space thus potentially allowing for the actual downtown core to remain active all times of day, rather than say King and Younge or King and Bay in Toronto where the financial district dies at night.

Also, if you look at some places like Toronto or Calgary, you can see that immediately surrounding the stadium, its' pretty dead most of the time IMHO. I say keep it where it is.
In Toronto the area is not really in the downtown, its south of it. None the less i understand what you are saying. It is quite vacant around the area. However there is a huge amount of construction in that area that will start soon. Including Maple Leaf Square which will include Condos, Hotel, restraunts, bars and a public square. So one could argue that this development would not happen if the ACC was not there. So i really hope Edmonton has a down town area.

The most ideal place will be on Jasper between 106st and 107st where the huge parking lot is.
What I am picturing is a state-of-the-art 19000-seat hockey arena should take up the entire block.


I'm not sure that's big enough. The block is only around 80m x 300m.

Also, let's be realistic here: this is Alberta. Whether you agree with it philisophically or not, people are going to drive their big trucks and SUVs to the game. Plus, what do you think they should do with the old coleseum?

Also, I'm a bit against corporate welfare: I don't know why we'd want to put public money into a place where a bunch of millionaires skate around all day.

If they're going to renovate, they should build the new coloseum in the parking lot of the current coloseum, then demolish the old one for a parkade or something. Why not work on revitalising the area around Rexall place?

I'm not sure that's big enough. The block is only around 80m x 300m.

Also, let's be realistic here: this is Alberta. Whether you agree with it philisophically or not, people are going to drive their big trucks and SUVs to the game. Plus, what do you think they should do with the old coleseum?

Also, I'm a bit against corporate welfare: I don't know why we'd want to put public money into a place where a bunch of millionaires skate around all day.

If they're going to renovate, they should build the new coloseum in the parking lot of the current coloseum, then demolish the old one for a parkade or something. Why not work on revitalising the area around Rexall place?

If I can recall, Edmonton had done an excellent job dealing with the limited parking space during the WEM Grand Prix. The park and ride system was at its best, plus there was no LRT nearby. I am pretty sure the city can handle this one, and with the LRT right beside it.

I would imagine that by the time the new DT arena is built, South Campus LRT station will already be in service. For those so-called millionaires living in Terwillegar, they will have a large temporary park-and-ride to park on. Would have been such a pain to drive from Terwillegar all the way to downtown.

Hell yeah! Anything that brings people downtown is a good thing!

If I can recall, Edmonton had done an excellent job dealing with the limited parking space during the WEM Grand Prix. The park and ride system was at its best, plus there was no LRT nearby. I am pretty sure the city can handle this one, and with the LRT right beside it.

I would imagine that by the time the new DT arena is built, South Campus LRT station will already be in service. For those so-called millionaires living in Terwillegar, they will have a large temporary park-and-ride to park on. Would have been such a pain to drive from Terwillegar all the way to downtown.
Unless an arena is proposed tomorrow, the entire south LRT line will be completed before we even see the ground break.

South Campus is slated to open late 2008 I believe.

The Labatt Cebtre in London which only holds about 11,000 id right downtown 100 metres from the busy Richmond/Dundas corner.......the heart of the city. It has done wonders for downtown London, especially at night.
Acknowleging that London's downtown is far more dence than Edmontons it will still help her core and bring Japser back to life.

Acknowleging that London's downtown is far more dence than Edmontons it will still help her core and bring Japser back to life.
Please qualify that statement?!?!?

I think the edmonton oilers need something new and fresh.We have one of the oldest buildings in the NHL.Look around the league,and especially in Canadian cities.One would argue that our buuilding needs more life and a better location.Rexall place looks like a giant rock that needs to swept off the streets.Toronto has the newly constructed Air Canada Place.Vancouvers got GM Place, and Calgary's got the Saddledome.All really nice and attractive buildings.We live in one of the best cities in the world and hold one of the best hockey teams of all time.A newly constructed downtown arena would be benificial to the cities core.We need to make downtown edmonton a beautiful place for family and business to thrive.I hate to compare edmonton to calgary, but let's face it.Calgary is ahead of the game in terms of making theire city more modern.And because of that, it helps attract people and business which helps there economy grow.In my opinion it's time for edmonton to catch up and do the same.This is a beautiful place to live.I want to see change and proggression.There is a lot of potential in the downtown area.And there would be many potential sites for a new arena.

Molson Centre is also downtown in Montreal as is the centre in Winnipeg.
For god's sake don't pull an Ottawa and put it where nobody wanted it....Kanata.
Its like building it Leduc, way out of the city.

[QUOTE=ssiguy2]Acknowleging that London's downtown is far more dence than Edmontons it will still help her core and bring Japser back to life.

I don't know about that as like Kitchener, London is home to a half filled mall, expect London's is full of books, our is full of gym queens. London was better when the Galleria still had life to it. Its nothing like it was in the late 80's when it actually was full of shops.

As for density I'd say London makes Edmonton pretty good. I was in London last weekend and seriously like Kitchener, both are deader now than 15 years ago. You'd think the retail life was totally sucked out of both of them. Late 80's both were full of shops - 2006 both are heavily obsessed with power centres and their flagship core malls are in the case of London - a library and in the case of Kitchener - a mecca for roid induced gym queens. Both have more flats now but retail has gone to the burbs. Labatts is good for London though. At least London is now capable of attracting a Cher concert! Kitchener is more Backstreet Boys territory. How I hate The AUD.

As for a Edmonton Arena - I'd say put more money into fixing up Northlands or whatever the exhibition area is called. Make it one BIG sports showpiece that will do Edmonton proud, like the one in Melbourne. And if you had to put it downtown I'd say put it on the fringes. East of downtown be good or better still to the north of the CBD behind CN Tower or better still closer to Grant "whatever" College where a statium named after the Oilers would make sense with IT as a neighbor. ** I don't know if its just me but that college is one place in Alberta that seems out of this world. I remember going to some bar up that way and upon laying eyes on these three lit up towers going. WTF? What is this place? Its a cross between Mecca and the set of Xanadu. Totally bizzare - I loved it.

Definitely.