Calgary Flames come to agreement with city, province on $1.2-billion arena deal

It’s official: the Calgary Flames will have a new arena.

Set to be located in Stampede Park, an announcement shook out Tuesday afternoon featuring a collaboration between the Flames, the City of Calgary, the Province of Alberta and Stampede Park.

The new project will see massive changes to the area and will feature an event centre, a 1,000-seat community rink and an enclosed plaza nearby.

Tuesday’s announcement is about an agreement in principle, Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek said and until definitive agreements are made, there’s no date for shovels in the ground or when the arena could be open.

The total cost of the project will top $1.2-billion featuring major contributions from all three parties. The Calgary Sport and Entertainment Corporation will contribute $365-million towards the project, while the City of Calgary will contribute $537.3-million and the Province will kick in $330-million, as well.

Funding for the event centre from the province must be approved by the provincial cabinet and the treasury board by the end of summer, Alberta premier Danielle Smith said Tuesday.

Calgary city councillor Sonya Sharp, meanwhile, said she expects whoever wins the upcoming Alberta election to honour the agreement.

Here’s what the investments will be put towards:

The cities investment will be up front to fund the development of the Event Centre, parking structure, the enclosed plaza and 25 percent of the community rink. The CSEC’s contributions will see $40-million up front with another $17-million per year, increasing one percent per year, over 35 years to offset the above.

Lastly, the province’s contributions will fund the transportation improvements, land, infrastructure and site enabling costs that include off-site and on-site utility servicing costs, public realm and site clearing/demolition. $30-million of those funds will go towards funding 50 percent of the community rink.

The announcement seemingly comes out of the blue, and has a price tag double that of what the former arena project’s revised budget was, sitting at $608.5-million.