Calgary Event Centre | 36.85m | 11s | CSEC | HOK

Do you support the proposal for the new arena?

  • Yes

    Votes: 91 65.5%

  • No

    Votes: 39 28.1%

  • Maybe

    Votes: 9 6.5%
  • Total voters
    139
Yeah, to those who are concerned about being "tacky"... well, get over it. I still feel something unique, even if it verges on "tacky" would be way better than some bland generic design. At least with tacky it stands out and has the potential to draw people in. What the current streetscape design offers is just more of the same, nothing unique.

"come see Calgary's entertainment district! Their darker concrete striping runs diagonal, not horizontal!!!"
 
MichaelS said:
Yeah, to those who are concerned about being "tacky"... well, get over it. I still feel something unique, even if it verges on "tacky" would be way better than some bland generic design. At least with tacky it stands out and has the potential to draw people in. What the current streetscape design offers is just more of the same, nothing unique.

"come see Calgary's entertainment district! Their darker concrete striping runs diagonal, not horizontal!!!"
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I don't know ... while it sounds interesting to have a functional and accessible western-themed entertainment district in the city centre where it could be used readily by guests and locals alike, I really don't see how it could compete with a cluster of wooden sidewalks and quaint old-timey western buildings re-located to an inaccessible cluster on the edge of the city, open to the public to enjoy 7 hours a day, for $35 / day entrance fee, and a kilometre walk from the nearest public transit.

We should preserve Stampede Park the way they would have in the old west - an inordinate amount of bronze horse statues haphazardly scattered about, 40 hectares of surface parking, and a few billion dollars of mega facilities we rebuild at great expense and debate every 30 years.

Before you ask the answer is yes - all roofs in the western-themed entertainment district will be swoopy and all pedestrian pathways with a diverse range of grey/dark grey pavers will be curvy for no reason. Just as they were in the old west.
 
MichaelS said:
I feel it is a missed opportunity to not lean into the western theme hard for our urban design on the Stampede Grounds. Everything from 12th Avenue through to the 17th Avenue connector. Make the grounds feel like a bit of a theme park, with wooden plank sidewalks and swinging saloon doors. Put in a big cowboy bar (either move Cowboys over to front the street, or see if Ranchmans wants to move onto the grounds, etc...) a cafe that serves mini donuts and deep fried oreos and turkey legs year round, etc... Basically, allow tourists to get a taste of Stampede, even if they can't make it for the actual 10 days in July.

Another "high street" of patterned concrete and the odd retail shop (or none at all in the case of the BMO centre) will not be much of an enterainment district, as it will look exactly like 2-3 other districts in every other city already. Why not lean into the thing that is unique to Calgary, and may be something that actually creates some interest for out of towners to come check out.
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How about a Vegas style casino/hotel with a western theme to build the Stampede brand all year? I also would like to see the Stampede expand to be 3 or even 4 weeks: big name entertainment at the event center every day, 24hr drinking hours, other events at the new convention center
 
DougB said:
How about a Vegas style casino/hotel with a western theme to build the Stampede brand all year? I also would like to see the Stampede expand to be 3 or even 4 weeks: big name entertainment at the event center every day, 24hr drinking hours, other events at the new convention center
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We already have the casino, let's hope the Matthews Southwest hotel that is supposed to be built next to it ties in well. Perhaps they can just knock a wall down between the two buildings, and make an entrance through the hotel lobby so there is frontage off of Stampede Trail.

Edit:
More thoughts on the rest of your comment, I think changes are going to be needed for the Stampede. As Calgary grows, and attendance also grows, it is going to soon exceed the capacity of the grounds (maybe it has already, hearing some stories about how crowded it is this year). Either they need to expand the grounds to a secondary, satellite location, or start limiting ticket sales. Your idea of extending the festival would probably help.
 
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Chinese_T said:
On a somewhat related note, every time I see the Victoria Park plan I notice that there are hotels and apartments planned to be put on the stampede grounds at some point. My question is, will they get free admission to the grounds? How will the stampede police people from entering their own homes?
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The phase two hotels will be NW of the BMO Centre and the phase three hotels will be near the 17th Ave extension, so neither will be part of the midway area. Additionally, once the Saddledome goes down, the midway footprint will be a lot different - and much better with the addition of park-like river access similar to Enmax Park.

Edit: The removal of the Saddledome will eliminate the stress placed on the existing footprint (as described in the above comments).
 
403808 said:
The phase two hotels will be NW of the BMO Centre and the phase three hotels will be near the 17th Ave extension, so neither will be part of the midway area. Additionally, once the Saddledome goes down, the midway footprint will be a lot different - and much better with the addition of park-like river access similar to Enmax Park.

Edit: The removal of the Saddledome will eliminate the stress placed on the existing footprint (as described in the above comments).
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There's also the addition of Stampede Trail and presumably 5a St SE once the new arena gets built. The plan is to move the north entrance up to 12th Ave once the arena and Stampede Trail was complete. But I'm a little surprised the Stampede hasn't already moved their north entrance up to 12th Ave as they currently own all that land.
 
MichaelS said:
We already have the casino, let's hope the Matthews Southwest hotel that is supposed to be built next to it ties in well. Perhaps they can just knock a wall down between the two buildings, and make an entrance through the hotel lobby so there is frontage off of Stampede Trail.

Edit:
More thoughts on the rest of your comment, I think changes are going to be needed for the Stampede. As Calgary grows, and attendance also grows, it is going to soon exceed the capacity of the grounds (maybe it has already, hearing some stories about how crowded it is this year). Either they need to expand the grounds to a secondary, satellite location, or start limiting ticket sales. Your idea of extending the festival would probably help.
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I'm thinking Vegas scale casino and hotel, probably too big to fit on a single block. Would need to be along railway tracks or east of the Event Center.
 
403808 said:
The phase two hotels will be NW of the BMO Centre and the phase three hotels will be near the 17th Ave extension, so neither will be part of the midway area. Additionally, once the Saddledome goes down, the midway footprint will be a lot different - and much better with the addition of park-like river access similar to Enmax Park.

Edit: The removal of the Saddledome will eliminate the stress placed on the existing footprint (as described in the above comments).
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Ignoring the fact the plan seems to be for our entertainment district's high street to have a massive surface parkign lot 355 days a year once the Saddledome goes, the 3-4 years of construction of the new arena is going to be very tight on the grounds as we won't have the Saddledome lot until that project is done.
 
I said this sort of thing on the BMO thread but I have no faith in the Stampede to take advantage of the opportunities all this change gives them. I have more faith in CSEC to take what was given to them in the land deals for the arena and do something interesting.

In a dream world, the city would've given the keys and decent funding to CMLC to go all East Village on Victoria Park and Stampede Park. Instead, the Stampede ruined it with their oversized input because they're seen as the golden goose. Outside of its history the Stampede isn't better and may be worse than K-Days in Edmonton. Stampede has become what it is in spite of the Stampede organization not because of it. I give credit to the bars, tents, and downtown businesses for what it is today: A downtown wide event that has off shoots into the wider city for things like pancake breakfasts.
 
CalgaryTiger said:
I said this sort of thing on the BMO thread but I have no faith in the Stampede to take advantage of the opportunities all this change gives them. I have more faith in CSEC to take what was given to them in the land deals for the arena and do something interesting.

In a dream world, the city would've given the keys and decent funding to CMLC to go all East Village on Victoria Park and Stampede Park. Instead, the Stampede ruined it with their oversized input because they're seen as the golden goose. Outside of its history the Stampede isn't better and may be worse than K-Days in Edmonton. Stampede has become what it is in spite of the Stampede organization not because of it. I give credit to the bars, tents, and downtown businesses for what it is today: A downtown wide event that has off shoots into the wider city for things like pancake breakfasts.
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CMLC is development planner not a developer. Also CMLC has already done their job in Victoria Park with the Rivers District Master Plan. The Stampede has the biggest input into how Stampede Trail gets built because they own that land.
 
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