City receives 62 proposals for redevelopment of Northlands Exhibition Lands

The City of Edmonton has received 62 submissions with ideas onredeveloping the land around Northlands Coliseum.

The city officially closed the Coliseum on Jan. 1.

The submissions will now be evaluated and a concept developed. Areport is expected to go to city council early next year.The city will hold a public consultation on June 21 at the Edmonton Expo Centre.

• City report urges council not to rush Coliseum decision
• More options on the table for Northlands Coliseum, mayor says

"We just got a lot of great ideas," said Lyall Brenneis, manager of the Edmonton Exhibition Lands initiative. "It's a real range from specific kinds of ideas for a portion of the site to a plan for the entire site in terms of how it might be reconceived or redeveloped."

Agora Borealis is one of the only proposals planningto renovate Northlands Coliseum. The proposal has been submitted by a group of architects, engineers, and investors.

They propose to renovate the former home of the Edmonton Oilers into a "village" that would house 700 families, senior and student residences, anda hotel.

The floor that served as the building's ice surface would be used as a recreation area.

"It can put about 500,000 square feet of residential living inside it, which seems to be a good thing for the neighbourhood and a lot better alternative to knocking it down or losing a piece of history here," said Michael Koski, one of the project's partners.

The plan includes converting some of the existing concrete panels into balconies, making them part of the structure,he said.

"The big thing is it removes the stands and keeps the concourses in place. Those concourses have enough depth in between them that you can put another floor of residential living in there and create a lot of units," said Koski.

The possibility of the coliseum being renovated was put to Brenneis.

"Council decided to permanently close the Coliseum, and permanent closure is just that,"he said. "I really can't say much more than that, or than that decision has been debated and determined."

Travis.mcewan@cbc.ca

@Travismcewancbc