Edmonton News

The downtown arena project is expected to generate at least $2 billion worth of new construction in the next five years.

That number could climb to $3 billion according to Jim Taylor the executive director of the Downtown Business Association in a presentation to city council's executive committee.

Taylor says his office has commissioned a project that will be released this August that tallies up development plans for not only the arena district, but for the sixteen by eight block zone that makes up the downtown.

"When you're starting to talk about billions of dollars, when we're getting over $3 billion, you start to think about the magnitude of that, in a very small area  we've never come close to that in our history," gushed Taylor to 630 CHED News.

One billion of that will be the arena, winter garden, LRT station and Royal Alberta Museum.

Then there's what the Oilers owner is looking at.

 "I understand the Katz Group and WAM are poised to make a number of announcements," Councillor Bryan Anderson told the meeting.

"We don't have a dollar figure for the Katz stuff," said Taylor.  "But assuming they come out with an announcement that they have some buildings,  well some buildings mean another half billion, three quarters of a billion then it's not hard to figure out its some fifty to sixty per cent of the total."

"They've accumulated a lot of land, and they're in the business of building on it...you'd think it's going to be sooner rather than later."

"We hear that sometime this summer they're going to come out with an announcement and the buzz lately has been that it could be as early as the end of the month (July) that we could hear something from them."

Taylor says a very small part will be confirmed with a hotel owned by a Sherwood Park developer, Prem Singhmar at the corner of 96th street and Jasper.

"Things like the hotel that's going to have its sod turning on Friday. When we started this report that wasn't a certainty and then it was pretty sure, and now they're turning the sod so that's $50 million so that's a small project in the case of some of the things that are happening."

Taylor expects the report, done by an MBA student in his office will compile 30 to 40 projects. (sj, twd)