Brantford Sports and Entertainment Centre – Proposal Update

We have another update about the proposed new arena in Brantford! Council was presented with what is being called “phase 2” of the consultant’s report on buildng a new sports and entertainment venue in Brantford. The focus of the presentation was to highlight the location recommendation, as well as some visual renderings of what it could look like.

Click to check out my original post

There were three locations chosen for the proposed new arena in Brantford and they were to be scored on various benchmarks. These included:

Civic Centre is Recommended as Site for Proposed New Arena

The other two locations weren’t named in the report, but the Civic Centre (or more specifically the parking lot area beside it) scored the highest and was recommended as the site for the proposed new arena in Brantford. According to the report, the area is envisioned to be “the cultural,
entertainment and administrative heart of the city, a key shopping district and a destination for residents, students, tourists and businesses”. The economic impact was also deemed to be the highest out of the three locations thanks to the multi-uses of the area and number of new developments to be built.

Twining for the Win

There are a number of logistical advantages to building it beside the Civic Centre, twinning it with the existing arena. Sharing cooling systems, staff, resources, and other infrastructure between the two buildings will result in cost savings for the city, and allow them to run much more efficiently rather than be two standalone entities.

But what about the Parking?

Parking was one of two categories where the Civic Centre location was rated the highest (the other being ease of development) however the city’s parkade is steps away and has been said to have over 900 spots vacant during games this season.

Didn’t we Spend Money on Upgrades to the Civic Centre?

When the agreement was made to house the Bulldogs for 3 years the City of Brantford committed to contribute $3 million, which was matched and surpassed by the franchise to the tune of a reported $4.2 million. Unfortunately the renovations and upgrades (that were headed by local developers The Vicano Group) are not enough to keep the team here long term, and they were only meant as a stop-gap measure in order to accommodate the team’s temporary stay.

However, the writing seems to be on the wall in regards to their former home welcoming the team back. The First Credit Union Centre is slated for extensive renovations in the near future, and their reported focus will be on single events, and not a sports team as a primary tenant. Reportedly the disadvantage of having to plan and block off dates for potential playoff games (which would take place during prime months of the calendar) and not be able to fill those dates with significant events on short notice was seen as a big obstacle for the ownership of the arena.

It seems like this is a prime opportunity for Brantford to keep the Bulldogs in the city long term, but in order to do so, we’ll need to build a facility to house the team properly. This is about more than just hockey though, as it would allow the city to host a myriad of events, tradeshows and concerts.

A New Arena in Brantford Means We Are No Longer a Drive-Through City

Being able to host larger events would allow Brantford to keep it’s local tourism dollars “in-house”. Instead of drving by, or out of the city to get to other venues in the surrounding municipalities, more events would take place here, and our local businesses and economy would truly benefit

$7.6 million per year was the estimated economic impact, with a substantial $6 million attributed to local wages paid to employees of both buildings

Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis expresses the significance of an OHL team as a “vote of confidence” in the community. Beyond the realm of hockey games, the proposed sports and entertainment centre promise expanded opportunities for local families to engage in entertainment and recreational events, keeping their local tourism dollars spent within Brantford instead of neighbouring cities like Kitchener, London, Hamilton, or Toronto.

$7.6 million per year was the estimated economic impact, with a substantial $6 million attributed to local wages paid to employees of both buildings. As a further measure to how a new venue like this can affect the surrounding area, plans have changed for the new mixed use site to be built across the street in the Brantford Commons plaza (50 Market Street S). The developers have since altered their plans from an inward facing courtyard style to a more outward facing design, presumably to encourage more pre and post game traffic to their commercial tenants. Currently the primary tenants of the plaza are Boston Pizza, The Beer Store, Freshco, Dollerama and the LCBO.

The Niagara Road Trip

During the council meeting Mayor Davis described a recent trip he and few councillors had made recently to St Catherines to check out their new arena built only a few years prior. The Meridian Centre was built in 2014 and is slightly smaller than the proposed new arena for Brantford. It was revealed that property values increased 4x within a 500m radius of the arena after it was built. Further to that their downtown core was revitalized, with new businesses opening up and increased foot traffic throughout.

Brantford’s downtown could use a similar shot in the arm, even with the number of improvements we’ve seen over the last decade, including the inclusion of the Laurier and Conestoga campuses, as well as Harmony Square. A new venue that could attract a number of big name acts and events would definitely be a plus for all the local businesses and bring potential new businesses and amenities to the surrounding area.

Can We Afford to Build a New Arena in Brantford?

The proposed project, with an estimated cost ranging from $115 million to $140 million and a capacity of 5,300 for hockey games, and a larger 6600 capacity for other events and concerts. That’s still a heavy price tag to consider when there are other responsibilities and initiatives that could use that same money.

This money could go a long way for other projects and needs for the city, but the timing of this opportunity presents an urgency to move something like this to the front of the line. For now it looks like the arena will be a tax payer funded initiative, but there is always an opportunity for other partners and sponsorships to contribute to the costs. Keeping in mind that that an official development proposal hasn’t been looked at. Council voted to initiate phase 3 of the process, kicking off a Public consultation for feedback and input from the city through a mix of in-person and online forums.

Bias aside, this is a great opportunity for Brantford to vault itself into the list of go-to cities in Southwestern Ontario and the GTHA. The timing of this idea isn’t ideal when considering there are growing concerns over the lack of supply of affordable housing and the population of unhoused people in the area, but striking while the iron is hot with the Bulldogs and cementing them as a primary tenant of the a new sports and entertainment venue would be key to it’s long term success. After seeing the renderings, i’m pumped. As long as the plan makes sense financially, I see it as a no brainer addition to this growing city.