New $450 million entertainment complex to be attached to B.C. Place
 

http://www.news1130.com/news/local/a...d-to-b-c-place

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Vancouver's getting a new 680,000 square foot entertainment complex, which will make its home next to B.C. Place. Premier Gordon Campbell made the official announcement Friday morning saying it will be built just west of the stadium and attached to it. The city will also have to do some re-zoning for properties around Robson and Beatty Streets so construction can begin next year.

Roughly 8,500 jobs are expected to be created as a result of the project. The jobs will include permanent placings once the facility opens and those in the construction sectors. The building will also include two major hotels, five restaurants and a 100,000 square foot casino. Organizers are calling the project a revitalized streetscape for the area.

The complex, which comes with a $450 million price tag, is expected to increase B.C. Place's revenue by 60 per cent annually in the long-term. During the first year the province is expected to collect revenues of up to $130 million.


Premier Gordon Campbell says it will be a major economic engine downtown. "We'll become a new marketing centre for restaurant activity, for tourism activity and for hospitality in general." Campbell added the province is not worried about more casino-related crime in the downtown core.

Currently there is another casino in the area, the Edgewater Casino sits on the other side of the stadium -- it will close once the new one opens its doors in 2013.

Meanwhile, Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie says he has never believed the social costs of gambling expansion outweigh the financial benefits, but says now that the River Rock is established in his community some of those concerns have been alleviated.

Brodie says the city has had to hire another five RCMP officers to deal with issues like loan sharking that come with a large casino. "I do believe there is a great social cost to having expanded gaming in your city. However, it also seems to be the way of the future and the way of the present. It provides an important source of revenue for the cities."

The City of Richmond receives about $12 million annually in revenue from the River Rock's presence. Richmond has also established a community gambling addictions program.

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What the fuck is on the roof of BC Place

I look forward to it!

Sweet, finally BC place can fit larger events or Multiple events. I always thought BC place was too small to host events like car shows and Expos.

Regarding the roof, that's the new roof that they'll put up. It's retractable.

It definitely makes it look a bit more attractive that's for sure.

that my friend is our tax dollars on the roof :cry:
just hope its well managed and done, unlike VANOC/olympic village fiasco

Daaaaaaammmmn $450 million?!!? Isn't that worth more than the current BC place?

More like "B.C. Place to be attached to new $450 million entertainment complex"

^ Material Cost buddy.

.

Awesome! About time Vancouver gets something like this

nice! i hope they have a poker room unlike grand villa...

can we get another playdium :lol

The cost to replace BC Place with a new stadium would cost 1.1 to 1.2 billion, so the current cost to renovate it with a retractable roof is a bargain. So no, it's not worth more than your BC Place.

I'm on the fence about this myself. Edgewater Casino has been a failure, so they should have a chance to change location and become profitable. On the other hand, the current design looks tacky and doesn't fit in with the rest of the area. You can be sure that residents in the area will complain and complain loudly.

But all in all, seeing that gambling/lottery revenues fund our social programs, we should all hope that this thing rakes in the dough. We gotta get the money launderers to pay for their fair share somehow, right?

we should become more like singapore.

nice!

looks sweet cant wait

i thought we were broke..

A start of taking away the name NO FUN VANCOUVER. This is awesome to see and I personally think from the way we handled the Olympics we are going to start seeing more projects like this to help are economy and to attract the tourists for something other then our beauty and mountains.

It's OK, they just took more of our money out of the ICBC surplus to pay for it :rolleyes:

Hello another Casino? :rolleyes:

so this $450k complex is in addition to the half billion dollar BC place renovation?

i dont really understand its purpose?

casino? tax on the poor.

The new and ugly roof is costing us $458m, plus $450 for the new entertainment compex. I was reading that London built a brand new standium from the ground up for "only" $700m. If it wasn't for BC Places iconic look we should tear the thing down... Actually just tear it down and build a new one with a similar look.
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Edgewater expansion
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