Councillors concerned about downtown Calgary convention district plan

Calgary city council asked for a downtown convention district plan to be drawn up.

But as some of the early details of the plan emerged at council's planning committee on Wednesday, alarm bells started ringing as councillors questioned where this is going.

Their concern: the city, the province and the federal government have all chipped in $500 million to expand the BMO Centre at Stampede Park. That will make it a top tier convention centre ready to compete with other cities in Canada.

The downtown convention district plan is also aimed at attracting conventions, supporting downtown businesses and creating jobs and activity in the core.

The idea of a district is to market the convention centre with area hotels and institutions like Arts Commons, the Glenbow Museum and the new central library as part of a unified package.

Plans are also being drawn for the short, medium and long term to make the district more identifiable through better signage and to improve facilities there like public spaces on Stephen Avenue.

When a presentation by city administration and the Calgary Telus Convention Centre CEO included a slide that showed combining all of those facilities together as a unified entity would mean there's potentially 300,000 square feet of space for conventions downtown, concerns were raised.

Coun. Ward Sutherland asked whether a rebranded downtown convention district could create confusion outside of Calgary in attracting meetings or end up with the convention centre going head-to-head with the BMO Centre for future business.

"With Tourism Calgary, how are we going to market this [in terms]of who is who?And are we going to be investing in two different locations to compete with each other rather than the synergy because it's now called the convention district?" asked Sutherland.

CEO doesn't foresee competition

The CEO of the convention centre, Clark Grue, said there are no plans to expand the downtown facility and there should be no competition between the two meeting venues.

He said the BMO Centre will cater to larger events once the expansion opens in 2025, while the downtown convention centre will aim forsmaller gatherings which can fit into the district.

But working together with neighbouring facilities like hotels or cultural institutions with their meeting spaces, Grue said it means they can go after some slightly bigger events than can fit inside the current convention centre.

"It's us going to market with the combined square footage offered by the Hyatt, the Marriott, the Fairmont, Glenbow, Arts Commons, together we're 300,000 square feet. So instead of marketing 122,000 square feet, we're now marketing 300,000," said Grue.

The convention centre gets an annual operating grant from the city of $1.8 million which makes up eight to 10 per cent of its revenues. Grue said their goal is to become self-sustaining and creating a convention district will help with that.

The city is supporting the convention centre with capital funding in the current four year budget as it is municipally owned.

Coun. Jeff Davison questioned why Calgarians should continue supporting the downtown facility once the new BMO Centre expansion is opened.

"The downtown convention centre is one of the most valuable pieces of property the City of Calgary owns. Would we be better off divesting that into something else or are we better off keeping that as a hub downtown to enable business?" said Davison.

Grue said the downtown facility is important for the economic health and vitality of downtown and for the jobsit sustains through the events that are held there.

Davison would like the city and the convention centre to work more with the Stampede on convention business to ensure they aren't competing with each other.

He's asking thatmore partners be involved in the convention district strategy and determine why the convention centre is necessary for the future of the downtown core.

Davison convinced council's planning and urban development committee to have a report done for later this year on how the strategy should proceed.

Coordination is key: mayor

Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who is on the convention centre's board, said that coordination between what the two facilities do is key to developing a downtown convention district.

"They're different sizes. They serve different purposes and they need to be able to work together," said Nenshi.

"The point is in fact for us to think more broadly about our meetings and convention business. About what makes sense to be downtown, what makes sense to be at the new BMO Centre."

The convention centre had a direct and indirect impact of over $133 million on Calgary's economy in 2018.