The push to hammer out a deal for a downtown arena by Halloween suffered another setback Tuesday after city council did not go through with a vote on whether to purchase a prime piece of real estate for the new rink.
The meeting, which was mostly held in private, was about whether the city would be willing to pay $20-25 million for a parcel of land located at 104th Avenue. The area is currently occupied by the Baccarat Casino.
Daryl Katz has set October 31st as his ideal deadline because purchasing options on the proposed site are set to expire.
Still some councillors are looking for the Oilers' owner to commit he will cover a $100 million shortfall for the project before they agree to pledge more taxpayer money.
"Let's just be honest about who's bearing the risk on this," said Coun. Linda Sloan. "We're going to own it. If something happens and for some reason the province doesn't come in and the owner for some reason doesn't come in, the city's risk is going to exceed $450 million."
"We don't have a lot of information yet as to the owner's commitment to the project and I would like to see some verification in writing as to their financial commitment before the city buys more risk by buying the land."
Other stumbling blocks in the deal include lack of financial commitment by the province and the absence of a non-competition agreement with Northlands for the local concert industry.
The Mayor says between now and the end of the month council will close in on final details, but it's up in the air whether an actual agreement will be inked.
"This has been a long and arduous negotiation for both the Katz group and the city," said Stephen Mandel. "I think people would like to see this come to some conclusion."
It's expected there will be a special council meeting in the days leading up to Halloween, where the Mayor says there will be a vote of some sort. While the nature of the debate is unknown, it could involve the issue of land purchase.
The Katz Group offered no comment on Tuesday's developments.
With Files from Bill Fortier
