What’s next for Rexall Place?
A new committee has been struck to determine the future of Edmonton’s Rexall Place once the new downtown arena opens in 2015.
Mayor Don Iveson has joined with the CEOs of ATB Financial, Edmonton Economic Development and others to brainstorm what’s next for the current Oilers’ home arena and concert venue.
Northlands CEO Tim Reid said all options will be considered -- from re-purposing the building to demolishing it.
"The intent of this committee is to explore best practices in other cities, to look at how we could implement those best practices in the city of Edmonton. But really, nothing is off the table at this point."
The committee will travel to Columbus and Kansas City to get ideas from their sports and entertainment districts.
"It's about really going and doing the research and understanding what our options are and learning ... I don't have any preconceived ideas,” said committee chair Andrew Ross.
“The building has great bones to it, and it has lots of opportunity for the future, where it can migrate into new uses or it can stay in similar uses,” said Ross. “So the building, we think, has many more years of useful life and most importantly it's a piece of infrastructure that is paid off.”
The committee is expected to report back to the Northlands board by April 15, 2015.
