New arena could bring hockey up to full power

New arena could bring hockey up to full power
The Hearn is Toronto's top site for long-awaited four-pad ice complex
February 27, 2009
Mary Ormsby
Sports Reporter

This may be hockey's biggest power play.

The decommissioned Hearn power plant is the city's top site to build a long-overdue, four-pad arena to anchor a planned sports complex on the eastern portlands, Toronto Mayor David Miller said yesterday.

"It's an extraordinary possibility," Miller said. "The Hearn is unused and it's a huge opportunity to put a sports node there to create a real centrepiece. It's massive and it's a way to re-use that really interesting building."

The mayor also said the estimated 10,000 GTA female hockey players, often squeezed out of affordable ice by boys' and men's leagues, will receive priority access to the arena, which could be ready by 2012 if the province agrees to turn the Unwin Ave. property over to the city.

"The whole reason to do this is for women and girls," said Miller, adding that boys and men would be accommodated, too. "There's a huge demand (by hockey players) and not nearly enough ice and that's why this is important to do and worth doing."

The Toronto Rock are one of several potential private partners recruited by the city who are keen to invest in and use a new arena.

"It would be a great thing for lacrosse in the area," said Rock president Brad Watters, whose National Lacrosse League team does not have a local practice facility.

However, before a shovel goes into the ground for a $34 million arena, the city must acquire the property from the province, since it's owned by Ontario Power Generation. OPG has given a long-term lease to Studios of America, so the city must first resolve that deal with the film company. "We've approached the province in a very preliminary way and there are a few challenges," the mayor said. "But I would think we would be able to get over those."

If the Hearn land can't be acquired, a second location is west of the old building and north of the shipping channel south of Lake Shore Blvd. and east of Cherry St. Testing is being done on the shipping site, with the worry that bedrock may be too deep or the area too contaminated by pollutants.

The arena was originally a Waterfront Toronto project which was given $20 million from the federal government in 2002. The city of Toronto will foot the balance. The project was delayed repeatedly, with the last estimated completion date set at 2010 – but it didn't get past the planning stage. The city stepped in last fall and offered to take over the project.

"It was intended, in the end, to be a city recreational facility so it makes sense for us to take the lead on building it,'' Miller said.