Masterplan for makeover of Foothills Athletic Park in northwest Calgary gets council committee approval

A concept planfor Foothills Athletic Parkthat envisions amultisport field house, 2,500residential units and a hotel was approved by acouncil committee Thursday.

TheFoothills Athletic Park redevelopment advisory committeeis in charge of examining the future of the area around McMahon Stadium in the city's northwest.

The planned redevelopmentwould completely overhaul the area, dismantling the existing baseball stadium and replacing it with a long-sought indoor fieldhouse, while McMahon Stadium would be completely renovated and surrounded by retail, restaurants, a hoteland residential buildings.

• Calgary councillors get first look at proposed transformation of McMahon Stadium and Foothills Athletic Park

The chair of the committee, Coun.George Chahal, says the idea was to provide a vision of what the site could become.

"Council wanted us to create a concept master plan of the entire site, to make sure that we engaged with all stakeholders and look at all the opportunities that are available," he said.

He says it also gives Calgarians an opportunity to envision what can be built in the community and a sense of what's possible.

"It provides us a business case and an opportunity to talk about what the opportunities are, what the potential revenues and costs could be," Chahal said.

The fieldhouse would cost more than $200 million while capital costs to prepare for redevelopment would require tens of millions more.

The land in question is split almost evenly between the city on the northern half and the University of Calgary on the southern portion, where McMahon is located.

The university has said in the past that it has no money to contribute to the fieldhouse development.

The proposal will bediscussed by city council on Sept.13.