U of C has no money for city's $255M field house project

A planned $255-million, multi-sport field house being planned by the City of Calgary will not be getting any money from the University of Calgary.

In a letter to the city, U of C president Ed McCauley said the project doesn't meet the university's needs and it's financially tapped out.

"Given the current and anticipated budgetary constraints faced by the university, UCalgary does not have the capacity to pay market rent, not the ability to make the capital contribution to the project that would be required to accommodate our various program needs," wrote McCauley.

In the letter, he said that the field house project that's being contemplated does not meet the needs of the university's varsity, academic, research and clinic operations.

"We fully appreciate that meeting the university's needs (additional seating, varsity administration space, locker rooms, training room and clinic space) would place additional capital pressures on the project." 

City looking for partners

The city has not yet identified funding sources to cover the cost of the field house.

Besides the federal and provincial governments, the university was hoped to be a funding partner.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi said he understands why the U of C has taken this step.

"The post-secondary institutions in Alberta — I can probably be even more blunt than the university presidents can —are going through unprecedented cuts," said Nenshi.

"If I were in the president of the university's shoes, I'd say: look, the dream of this field house is not something I can entertain right now when I'm trying to keep students in chairs."

The mayor is holding out on the possibility that the university can still be a partner in some way in the future.

"I want to make sure that whatever we go forward with doesn't preclude the university from being able to join that partnership when they've got a little more funding."

Not a setback, councillor says

The chair of city council's Foothills Athletic Park redevelopment advisory committee said the university's decision should not be a setback for the field house.

Coun. George Chahal said the field house is intended to meet longstanding needs of Calgary's sporting communities. 

But the scope of the project was expanded to see if the university's needs could also be met in the same building given it will be so close to the U of C campus.

Given that it cannot participate in that way for financial reasons, he said the city will now focus on the original intent of the field house.

It also doesn't rule out cooperation with the university on the redevelopment of the Foothills/McMahon Stadium area as it does own some of the land.

"We still are continuing on with our planning work that would encompass the 100-acre site, and in collaboration with the university and other partners, and we'll be proceeding with that," said Chahal.

Planning is underway

During Tuesday's committee meeting, he said they approved the hiring of a Calgary company to undertake the planning work for the development of the larger Foothills park and surrounding area.

The value of the contract was not disclosed.

"We have two work streams. One is the planning work stream for the entire site. The second work stream is for the field house itself."

Chahal said that planning report is due to come back to the committee around the middle of next year.

City council has approved $775,000 for various planning projects, including the contract discussed on Tuesday.

Last year, council approved spending $19 million for preliminary work and detailed design on the field house project while it searches for other funding sources.

Construction on the field house is currently slated to begin in 2022 with an opening tentatively set for 2024 or 2025, although that opening may happen in stages. 

The field house will be located at Foothills Athletic Park and would require the demolition of Foothills baseball stadium.