EDMONTON — Images of a proposed arena for downtown Edmonton feature a futuristic building of steel and glass shaped like a lop-sided boomerang.
The arena is expected to cost $450 million and would be the new home for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers.
A newly released design shows the ice rink would get lots of daylight because of glass-sided walls.
A tall pedway would take people down to a new public square.
“It’s very modern, it’s curve-linear, it’s free-flowing,” said Rick Daviss, executive director for the project.
“I think that helps to sort of soften the hard edges. It is going to be a fairly significant building and if you can round it and put on some effective street-level treatment and landscaping, you can make it still human scale.”
The city says the pictures are part of preliminary design work that provides a starting point for evaluating other options.
Oiler’s president Patrick LaForge was impressed with the design.
“I think it looks fantastic actually — befitting a city that has such a high esteem for hockey and entertainment.”
City council voted in October to sign a cost-shared deal with Oilers owner Daryl Katz for the new arena, although the project is still $100 million short.
Both Katz and the city have been asking for that money from Ottawa or the province. Both governments have already said publicly that they will not use tax dollars to fund private enterprises.
(CTV Edmonton)