Plans for a 20,000-seat arena in Markham that could one day play host to an NHL team have been unveiled.
GTA Sports and Entertainment Chairman and CEO Graeme Roustan formally submitted the site plan for the proposed GTA Centre to the City of Markham on Wednesday.
City council will now examine the plan and if approved, a building permit could be issued this fall.
“This is such an exciting project for my team to be working on and today is another step in the process,” Roustan told reporters during a press conference Wednesday morning where he unveiled the plan. “It has been a long road to get to this point and there is a lot more to do ahead of us, but what we are submitting today is a vision of a facility that is real special. This is a facility that is of the people and for the people and what you see in the design is the result of input from a lot of people here in Markham.”
Speaking with CP24 after the press conference, Roustan said the GTA Centre would have “all the latest technology” as well as wider seats and deeper aisles than most arenas.
He said because the facility is being constructed on a vacant lot near Kennedy Road and Highway 407, it can be larger than many other similar-sized arenas such as the Air Canada Centre in downtown Toronto.
“What I have tried to do is build a more consumer-friendly facility and the reason why we can do that is because we have the land, we have the space” he said.
City to contribute $162.5 million
The initial financial framework for the $325 million GTA Centre was approved in June.
Under the terms of that framework, the City of Markham will contribute $162.5 million to the construction of the facility while the rest of the cost will be covered by GTA Sports and Entertainment.
During Wednesday’s news conference Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said the submission of the site plan shows that GTA Sports and Entertainment is serious about the project.
“When you submit your site plan application it signals, at least from the private sector side, that they are serious about this project and want this project to proceed,” he said. “There is still a lot of work to do, not only with the site plan but certainly the financial framework itself and of course all of the legal agreements that are currently being worked on, but we are looking forward to doing that work.”
Though the GTA Centre has long been rumoured as the possible site of an NHL team, Scarpitti said the City of Markham is not involved in any discussions pertaining to that. He said even without a major tenant the GTA Centre will host more than 100 events a year and could be used to host the 2015 World Junior Hockey Championships and possibly even a future Olympic Games.
"If there is a bid for 2024 this would be one more facility that provides the capacity to hold the Games here in the GTA," he said.
Roustan said he is hopeful that construction will begin on the GTA Centre by the end of 2012.
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