City of Calgary, CSEC bring in third party to mediate arena deal talks

After a closed door meeting at Calgary City Council on Wednesday, the City announced it is bringing in three individuals to act as a third-party mediator for future arena deal talks with the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC).

Stuart Dalgleish, General Manager of Planning and Development for the City, told event centre committee members Wednesday that John Fisher, Guy Huntingford, and Phil Swift have formed a third-party to mediate talks between the City and CSEC going forward.

Fisher is the executive vice president of Commercial Real Estate Services (CBRE), Huntingford is the director of strategic initiatives at NAIOP Calgary, and Swift is the Executive Chairman and Founder of the Ayrshire Group.

“This team brings considerable expertise from the commercials real estate industry, including experience in larger developments,” Dalgleish said. “The third-party reports to City Administration and is under a strict confidentiality agreement.”

Dalgleish says the third-party has looked into all of the details of the past arena deal — which ended up being terminated — and after a meeting with both the City and CSEC, the third-party will be making recommendations on how to move a possible new deal forward.

“City Administration is pleased with the progress made,” Dalgleish said. “Yet at this time there is no definitive commitment or timeline for a new agreement, updates when available will be provided to the event centre committee.”

The previous arena deal — agreed to over two years ago — had an initial estimate of $550 million split between the City and CSEC.

Shovels were set to hit the ground this year for a 19,000-seat arena and concert venue which would have replaced the Saddledome, which has been the home of the Flames for almost 40 years.

However, the cost estimate for the project rose to $634 million. On top of rising costs, the City added $19 million in roadwork and climate mitigation to the project last July, and wanted the Flames to pay for $10 million of that.

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The deal collapsed a short time later when CSEC president John Bean said in December that the Flames were pulling out of the agreement.

“While CSEC was prepared to move forward in the face of escalating construction costs, and assume the unknown future construction cost risk, CSEC was not prepared to fund the infrastructure and climate costs that were introduced by the city following our July agreement… and are not included in the current cost estimate of $634 million,” Bean said then.

The Saddledome, which is the second-oldest NHL arena behind New York’s Madison Square Garden, will remain the home of the Calgary Flames until further notice.

CSEC also owns the Western Hockey League’s Hitmen, Canadian Football League’s Stampeders and National Lacrosse League’s Roughnecks.

–With files from the Canadian Press