Stadium digging about to begin

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This article was published 31/07/2010 (5601 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EXCAVATION for the new football stadium at the University of Manitoba’s Fort Garry campus will begin early next week despite cost overruns remaining an ongoing problem, with no solution in sight.

Creswin Properties has awarded the excavation contract to S&J Construction Ltd. It’s expected to take three months.

The Manitoba government will begin advancing project funds to Creswin, but who will pay for any cost overruns remains unresolved.

“It’s an exciting step, but it’s just one step in a long process,” said Creswin chairman David Asper, the creative force behind the project. “There are many steps still to be taken, but it’s great to get started.”

Asper says he remains committed to delivering a first-class stadium to Winnipeggers despite the spectre of major cost escalations.

“The reality is I’m the last person in the world that wants overruns on this project. The last person who wants to compromise on the stadium concept is me. I’m bound and determined to deliver the enclosed bowl, more legroom, better concessions and a more dynamic game-day experience,” he said, not mentioning the roof protection for 80 per cent of fans, which is part of the original stadium specifics but has been the focus of backroom debate this week as project partners look for ways to cut costs.

“As we move forward and the tender process continues, we’ll fight like mad to try and keep these things. But could there be sacrifices in esthetic ways? Maybe,” Asper said.

The possibility of at least another month in delays pushed the project partners together during the last couple of days and they agreed to move forward with the stadium and squabble over cost overruns when and if they arise.

“Cost overruns at this stage are hypothetical,” Asper said. “This may have been debate over nothing.”

Excavation could begin as soon as Tuesday, and with a deadline of spring 2012 for completing the stadium, there is little time left this summer to waste.

Creswin Properties is contractually on the hook for cost overruns on the stadium, but with the original estimate of $115 million already ballooning to $139 million before excavating has even begun, that arrangement is being tested.

Work on the new stadium has been poised to begin for the past couple of weeks, but Creswin has stalled construction until a clearer picture emerged on who would pay for what at the construction site.

Debate between the project partners — Creswin, the U of M, the City of Winnipeg, the provincial government and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — has been ongoing in an attempt to mesh design with real costs.

But a solution put forward Thursday almost derailed the project until September. The idea to significantly alter the original design by removing the overhead roof coverage for 80 per cent of the seats raised major red flags for the City of Winnipeg.

A letter sent Thursday by the city’s chief administrative officer, Glen Laubenstein, said any substantive changes to the design would require approval from city council.

Council is not scheduled to meet again until September, raising the possibility of major construction delays.

Meetings and conference calls between the partners went late into the night Thursday and continued Friday before an agreement was reached to keep the stadium design intact and deal with overruns as they might arise.

The original deal, signed in March, called for Creswin to erect a stadium with key specifics, such as 33,000 spacious seats, a 25-foot-deep in-ground bowl with 20,000 seats in the lower-bowl area, overhead weather protection for 80 per cent of fans, a covered grade-level concourse with sweeping 360-degree views of the field from concession areas and an enclosed perimeter for complete wind protection.

Creswin costed the stadium portion of the project at $115 million and agreed to cover overruns. But that budget, reportedly a very rough estimate, appears to be as much as $24 million low.

The provincial government, which is acting as the banker in this deal by providing bridge financing of $90 million — $75 million to be repaid by Creswin and $15 million to be repaid by the Blue Bombers — does not have a cost schedule at this point.

Financing for the stadium is a mix of private and public funds.

Creswin hopes to develop a high-end shopping mall on the site of Canad Inns Stadium at Polo Park to generate the $75 million and has until 2016 to come up with it. Creswin must buy the Polo Park property from the city at fair market value, which some early estimates put at around $30 million.

Creswin has until 2012 to provide a letter from a financial institution demonstrating how the developer, through proceeds from its proposed mall, can repay its $75-million part of the province’s construction loan.

If Creswin cannot fufil this part of the deal, the Polo Park stadium site will be sold to someone else and subsequent business and property taxes will go toward repaying the provincial loan.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca