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Toronto 2015 Pan American Games

jn_12 said:
You do realize that Roger Waters just played Fenway Park on the weekend right? They had the Dropkick Murphys and New Kids on the Block play there recently as well. On top of that they've had the Winter Classic, and a number of soccer games (Liverpool and AS Roma are playing there in a few weeks). Grass doesn't eliminate the ability to host these events at all.
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With the Skydome, taking out the turf and installing grass means that they cannot change the configuration of the stands at all, which takes away a lot of it's multi-use ness.
 
Well they are looking into the idea and have spent money to study whether it is feasible and the best type of natural grass for the stadium. However, i don't see them going through with it by 2015.
It will also be a huge bonus in helping them attract star players.
 
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/755854--it-s-official-ivor-wynne-will-spin

98f9d9d149f78429428c64a820e7.jpg


The city has inadvertently confirmed a plan to rebuild Ivor Wynne Stadium along north-south lines.

Infrastructure Ontario, the project manager for new Pan Am Games venues, has steadfastly refused to confirm the long-rumoured, 90-degree stadium swivel — or any other design details other than the 22,500-seat capacity — citing the need to protect competitive bidding.

City and Hamilton Tiger-Cats officials have also declined to discuss stadium design because of confidentiality agreements with the province.

But a new city report headed to committee Monday officially lets the Ticat stadium orientation out of the bag. The report recommends the city obtain a public school parking lot south of Ivor Wynne because “the proposed stadium design would have the new west stands encroaching on to (school board) lands.”

Ivor Wynne’s existing incarnation doesn’t have any “west stands” and the 100-space parking lot is significantly south and west of the stadium.

“I think that change is now pretty common knowledge, officially or not,” said Coralee Secore, the city’s point person for Pan Am planning. “The north-south orientation is considered best practices for (soccer) stadiums, so that’s what they’ve decided to do.”

The layout change would help keep direct sun out of the eyes of CFL football and Pan Am soccer players, as well as a majority of fans. It would also affect neighbourhood planning around the stadium block bounded by Beechwood Avenue, Melrose Avenue, Cannon Street East and Balsam Avenue, including changes to traffic patterns, parking, entrances and exits.

Secore said talking about the footprint flip won’t endanger the competitive bidding process because all preferred bidders now plan at least some stadium orientation changes.

That argument wasn’t enough to convince Ticats president Scott Mitchell to comment on the turnaround, however.

“We cannot comment on anything until after the bid is awarded (in September),” he said in an email.

Councillor Lloyd Ferguson, chair of the Pan Am stadium precinct subcommittee, was also surprised to hear about a reference to the stadium orientation in the staff report.

“I’ve signed a confidentiality agreement, so I’m treading on uncertain ground on anything about design,” said Ferguson.

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board agreed in principle to the idea of giving up the required parking lot, used by Prince of Wales school, at a meeting in late June, said board spokesperson Mark Taylor. But the provincial Ministry of Education still has to sign off on the plan, he added.

The city report also suggests leasing replacement parking spots to the school board at a future “parking facility.” But the report doesn’t identify the size, type or location of the parking facility.

“That’s up to the successful bidder,” said Secore, adding city planners are still sworn to secrecy about design details until a public announcement in September.

Secore did swat down neighbourhood rumours about looming parking-related expropriation.

“We’re not obligated to buy any new land for parking,” she said.

She also said the city is still searching for new sites for Brian Timmis Stadium, a 5,000-seat soccer facility that will disappear as a result of the Pan Am project.
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Not sure about that - there are a number of soccer changing rooms within the new stadium though
 
I wonder if the reason they won't confirm/deny the stadium "turnaround" has to do with cost and delivery time being in question.

This is, substantially, different than what they had originally said was going to happen. Typically it has been reported that "The $152-million redevelopment project for Ivor Wynne Stadium includes demolishing then rebuilding the 15,000-seat south stands, and renovating the 10,000-seat north stands. The project is expected to include improving the north stand washrooms and concession areas, upgrading the electricity system, and improving access." (this particular version of the story comes from http://www.hamiltonnews.com/news/ivor-wynne-renovations-to-begin-fall-2012/ )

If that schematic above is correct, both the north and south will have to be demolished.....the east endzone (as currently configured) also would have to go and the east and west sides would now be where the majority of the seating would have to be constructed.

That is, considerably, more work and, likely, a much higher cost (it is, now, essentially a complete new stadium) and hard to see how they get all of that done with the TiCats using the stadium until, essentially, the end of this year. Also hard to see how that all gets done for $152 million!
 
It is a new stadium for all intents and purposes.

With regards to the timing - it's tight but doable. And there are huge penalty fees if the project isn't completed in time - something in the lines of $25,000 per day
 
ChesterCopperpot said:
It is a new stadium for all intents and purposes.

With regards to the timing - it's tight but doable. And there are huge penalty fees if the project isn't completed in time - something in the lines of $25,000 per day
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Sure....but the scope of the project has changed dramatically....no?

If this "turnaround" plan is how Hamilton is proceeding.....at a stadium that is supposed to host the vast majority of the soccer games.....the Pan Am folks better have a quick-release "plan B" in their hip pocket. One that involves how to get about 15k temporary seats erected around one of Victoria Park/Chingcousy Park/Centenial Park Stadium/York University football {not the new track stadium} "stadium"/other?.......this new Ivor Wynne plan seems a bit "last minute" and a lot "high risk".
 
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The Ivor Wynne Stadium project is due to be completed in July 2014. The soccer won't be played there until summer 2015.
 
ChesterCopperpot said:
The Ivor Wynne Stadium project is due to be completed in July 2014. The soccer won't be played there until summer 2015.
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Yep...I get what the timelines are/were.....but now they are not starting until late 2012/early 2013 and the plan to demolish then rebuild the 15,000-seat south stands, and renovate the 10,000-seat north stands has changed/grown (seemingly) to a complete teardown and rebuild with the configuration of the stadium changing direction.

If they can do all that by Jly 2014 they should get every infrastructure project in the province awarded to them.....even if they can get it down by 2015...that is doing something....all I am saying is if they are going to change the scope so dramatically and put the timelines/cost at such risk....they better have a plan B.

You can't just throw old timelines at a new project scope.

EDIT: BMO Field (as an example) is the most basic/simple construction you could ever imagine at a stadium...simpler than I understand the new Ivor Wynne to be but of similar size. With out any of the complications of Ivor Wyinne (ie. no demolition required and a far more accessible site) that simple stadium took 13 months to "erect". Given that Ivor Wynne has some of those complications (not the least of which might be a budget re-look) it has to be understood that a July 2014 opening is a real stretch.
 
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Some updates to the venue plan:

Shooting - CFB Borden (Interesting as its on a military base!)
Bowling - Planet Bowl (Steps away from the Centennial Park cluster)

And the organizers will be referring to venues differently due to sponsorship rules, like the Hershey Centre will be known as the "Combative Centre"

Also of note the Air Canada Center will not be in use! Surprise there.
 
intoronto1125 said:
Also of note the Air Canada Center will not be in use! Surprise there.
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It's not that much of a surprise. The ACC is the 5th busiest arena in the world, ranking in the top 5 with Madison Square Garden and the O2. No doubt that it has something going on at the same time.
 
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The_Architect said:
It's not that much of a surprise. The ACC is the 5th busiest arena in the world, ranking in the top 5 with Madison Square Garden and the O2. No doubt that it has something going on at the same time.
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I doubt that it is booked 3 years in advance. Given its success, though, I bet the cost of taking it offline is pretty high.......so the effect is the same!
 
TOareaFan said:
Yep...I get what the timelines are/were.....but now they are not starting until late 2012/early 2013 and the plan to demolish then rebuild the 15,000-seat south stands, and renovate the 10,000-seat north stands has changed/grown (seemingly) to a complete teardown and rebuild with the configuration of the stadium changing direction.

If they can do all that by Jly 2014 they should get every infrastructure project in the province awarded to them.....even if they can get it down by 2015...that is doing something....all I am saying is if they are going to change the scope so dramatically and put the timelines/cost at such risk....they better have a plan B.

You can't just throw old timelines at a new project scope.

EDIT: BMO Field (as an example) is the most basic/simple construction you could ever imagine at a stadium...simpler than I understand the new Ivor Wynne to be but of similar size. With out any of the complications of Ivor Wyinne (ie. no demolition required and a far more accessible site) that simple stadium took 13 months to "erect". Given that Ivor Wynne has some of those complications (not the least of which might be a budget re-look) it has to be understood that a July 2014 opening is a real stretch.
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It's not really a new project scope though - it was known as far back as last August that the stadium would be completely torn down. All the bidders have known that the project was a complete demolition and rebuild.

http://www.thespec.com/sports/ticats/article/587582--mitchell-answers-questions
 
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