The interesting quote in the following Winnipeg Free Press article.
"It's too expensive to grow wheat, so maybe I'll grow flax on it," he joked.
Even this big city hotel chain owner knows if you want to make money growing grain you won't make it with a crop handled by the cwb.
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Stadium Games
Dome proposal 'more for the money'
Tue Apr 10 2007
By Bartley Kives
Stadium game kicks off
Number Ten Architectural Group
A home with a dome vs. a cutting-edge facility at Polo Park site. How will the Blue Bombers make their choice? Leo Ledohowski, president and CEO of hotel chain Canad Inns, has unveiled a plan to build a new home with a dome for the Winnipeg Football Club.
UPPING the ante on would-be Bomber owner David Asper, Leo Ledohowski has unveiled a $520-million plan to build a new home for the Winnipeg Football Club, redevelop empty industrial land and replace the Winnipeg Convention Centre -- in one fell swoop.
Ledohowski, the president and CEO of hotel chain Canad Inns, and CanWest Global executive Asper both want to build a new stadium for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The football team currently plays in a 53-year-old stadium that doesn't provide the club with sufficient game-day revenue.
In January, Asper went public with his own $145 million plan to erect a stadium/commercial complex at the existing site of Canad Inns Stadium. His plan calls for $80 million from the federal and provincial governments.
Ledohowski wants $80 million from precisely the same government sources, but promised to offer taxpayers more for their money if the Winnipeg Football Club chooses his proposal over Asper's.
"Ours has a dome," the hotelier said at a Monday morning press conference where he explained what he described as a "bold, innovative, out-of-the-box yet practical" proposal.
The plans calls for a $55 million redevelopment of the existing Canad Inns site in Polo Park that would partly finance a $265 million covered stadium/exhibition centre in St. Boniface on a site that would also house a $50 million hotel and waterpark and $150 million worth of retail stores.
It would also see the stadium double as a 280,000-square-foot convention centre.
"There is a whole series of events that are only doable with a domed stadium," said Ledohowski. "Given our weather, this has to be a 21st century solution. We can't go back."
Last week, a city council subcommittee gave Canad Inns the right to buy a 72-hectare patch of St. Boniface industrial land known as the Public Markets for $1 million. Better known as the former Canadian Packers site, the land has sat empty for 25 years.
Canad Inns plans to privately finance the construction of a 200-room hotel and 50,000-square-foot waterpark on the St. Boniface site, along with all the retail development.
The $265 million football stadium would be paid for with $80 million worth of government funds as well as short-term bank loans. The loans would be paid back over 13 years with $107 million in revenue from the completed stadium -- money that's supposedly above and beyond what the Winnipeg Blue Bombers need for their own operations -- and $90 million in profits from a new development in Polo Park called Blue Bomber Plaza.
Ledohowski plans to ask the city for a 15-year tax holiday for Blue Bomber Plaza, which would be constructed on the site of a demolished Canad Inns Stadium only after a new stadium is finished in St. Boniface.
"The clear advantage of our proposal is there would be no interruptions to football operations," said Ledohowski, referencing the Asper stadium proposal, which calls for football operations to continue at Canad Inns Stadium while construction takes place.
The other major difference in the two business leaders' proposals is a matter of ownership. The Canad Inns plan would see the Bombers remain community-owned, while Asper wants to take over and run the team. Click to enlarge
Artist's conception of new $265-million stadium proposal by Canad Inns for former Canada Packers site in St. Boniface.
The Winnipeg Football Club's board of directors is reviewing both proposals and is expected to make a decision within months. Chairman Ken Hildahl has promised an impartial decision, despite the fact Asper was his predecessor and Canad Inns recently worked with the football club on a new-stadium feasibility study.
"This doesn't change what I'm doing. Not one bit," Asper said from Toronto on Monday, after hearing the details of Ledohowski's proposal. "I'm ready to go right now."
Ledohowski, meanwhile, declined to speculate about what he would do with the Public Markets if the Bombers choose Asper's stadium proposal.
"It's too expensive to grow wheat, so maybe I'll grow flax on it," he joked. "I bought it. What am I going to do with it?"
But the prospect of an indoor stadium with 280,000 square feet of exhibition space is no laughing matter for the Winnipeg Convention Centre, which wants to expand beyond its own 130,000-square-foot capacity to compete with newly renovated venues in 14 cities across Canada.
General manager Klaus Lahr has said that a new indoor facility would serious impact his publicly owned and funded operation, which seeks a multimillion-dollar public investment of its own.
A new domed stadium in Winnipeg would also require the approval of True North Sports & Entertainment, MTS Centre's parent company. When the hockey arena was built, the city and province signed a deal not to fund or approve any indoor sports or entertainment venue that could compete for events.
True North president and CEO Jim Ludlow said he would have to take a closer look at the Canad Inns proposal before he would be OK with the idea of an indoor stadium in St. Boniface.
"I don't want to throw a cold pail of water on anybody, but I would expect everyone is aware of the clause," Ludlow said on Monday.
"A domed football stadium and a waterslide? That's great. (But) if we have two venues in the city capable of hosting an Eric Clapton show, that doesn't work."
Political reaction to Ledohowski's announcement was almost nonexistent. Manitoba Premier Gary Doer declined to comment, though his spokesman praised Canad Inns for purchasing the long-dormant Public Markets site.
"Obviously, it's good the land is going to be developed by a person such as Leo Ledohowski who has a track record of developing projects," the spokesman said.
"However, at this time, we are letting the Bomber board review all proposals first before commenting on any one proposal."
Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz, who has taken the week off, was not available for comment.
In the past, he has repeatedly said the city has nothing further to offer the Winnipeg Football Club, noting the team is exempt from paying property and business taxes, pays $1 for a 50-year stadium lease and enjoys all revenues from parking, concessions, naming rights and entertainment taxes.
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
"It's too expensive to grow wheat, so maybe I'll grow flax on it," he joked.
Even this big city hotel chain owner knows if you want to make money growing grain you won't make it with a crop handled by the cwb.
------------------------------------
Stadium Games
Dome proposal 'more for the money'
Tue Apr 10 2007
By Bartley Kives
Stadium game kicks off
Number Ten Architectural Group
A home with a dome vs. a cutting-edge facility at Polo Park site. How will the Blue Bombers make their choice? Leo Ledohowski, president and CEO of hotel chain Canad Inns, has unveiled a plan to build a new home with a dome for the Winnipeg Football Club.
UPPING the ante on would-be Bomber owner David Asper, Leo Ledohowski has unveiled a $520-million plan to build a new home for the Winnipeg Football Club, redevelop empty industrial land and replace the Winnipeg Convention Centre -- in one fell swoop.
Ledohowski, the president and CEO of hotel chain Canad Inns, and CanWest Global executive Asper both want to build a new stadium for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The football team currently plays in a 53-year-old stadium that doesn't provide the club with sufficient game-day revenue.
In January, Asper went public with his own $145 million plan to erect a stadium/commercial complex at the existing site of Canad Inns Stadium. His plan calls for $80 million from the federal and provincial governments.
Ledohowski wants $80 million from precisely the same government sources, but promised to offer taxpayers more for their money if the Winnipeg Football Club chooses his proposal over Asper's.
"Ours has a dome," the hotelier said at a Monday morning press conference where he explained what he described as a "bold, innovative, out-of-the-box yet practical" proposal.
The plans calls for a $55 million redevelopment of the existing Canad Inns site in Polo Park that would partly finance a $265 million covered stadium/exhibition centre in St. Boniface on a site that would also house a $50 million hotel and waterpark and $150 million worth of retail stores.
It would also see the stadium double as a 280,000-square-foot convention centre.
"There is a whole series of events that are only doable with a domed stadium," said Ledohowski. "Given our weather, this has to be a 21st century solution. We can't go back."
Last week, a city council subcommittee gave Canad Inns the right to buy a 72-hectare patch of St. Boniface industrial land known as the Public Markets for $1 million. Better known as the former Canadian Packers site, the land has sat empty for 25 years.
Canad Inns plans to privately finance the construction of a 200-room hotel and 50,000-square-foot waterpark on the St. Boniface site, along with all the retail development.
The $265 million football stadium would be paid for with $80 million worth of government funds as well as short-term bank loans. The loans would be paid back over 13 years with $107 million in revenue from the completed stadium -- money that's supposedly above and beyond what the Winnipeg Blue Bombers need for their own operations -- and $90 million in profits from a new development in Polo Park called Blue Bomber Plaza.
Ledohowski plans to ask the city for a 15-year tax holiday for Blue Bomber Plaza, which would be constructed on the site of a demolished Canad Inns Stadium only after a new stadium is finished in St. Boniface.
"The clear advantage of our proposal is there would be no interruptions to football operations," said Ledohowski, referencing the Asper stadium proposal, which calls for football operations to continue at Canad Inns Stadium while construction takes place.
The other major difference in the two business leaders' proposals is a matter of ownership. The Canad Inns plan would see the Bombers remain community-owned, while Asper wants to take over and run the team. Click to enlarge
Artist's conception of new $265-million stadium proposal by Canad Inns for former Canada Packers site in St. Boniface.
The Winnipeg Football Club's board of directors is reviewing both proposals and is expected to make a decision within months. Chairman Ken Hildahl has promised an impartial decision, despite the fact Asper was his predecessor and Canad Inns recently worked with the football club on a new-stadium feasibility study.
"This doesn't change what I'm doing. Not one bit," Asper said from Toronto on Monday, after hearing the details of Ledohowski's proposal. "I'm ready to go right now."
Ledohowski, meanwhile, declined to speculate about what he would do with the Public Markets if the Bombers choose Asper's stadium proposal.
"It's too expensive to grow wheat, so maybe I'll grow flax on it," he joked. "I bought it. What am I going to do with it?"
But the prospect of an indoor stadium with 280,000 square feet of exhibition space is no laughing matter for the Winnipeg Convention Centre, which wants to expand beyond its own 130,000-square-foot capacity to compete with newly renovated venues in 14 cities across Canada.
General manager Klaus Lahr has said that a new indoor facility would serious impact his publicly owned and funded operation, which seeks a multimillion-dollar public investment of its own.
A new domed stadium in Winnipeg would also require the approval of True North Sports & Entertainment, MTS Centre's parent company. When the hockey arena was built, the city and province signed a deal not to fund or approve any indoor sports or entertainment venue that could compete for events.
True North president and CEO Jim Ludlow said he would have to take a closer look at the Canad Inns proposal before he would be OK with the idea of an indoor stadium in St. Boniface.
"I don't want to throw a cold pail of water on anybody, but I would expect everyone is aware of the clause," Ludlow said on Monday.
"A domed football stadium and a waterslide? That's great. (But) if we have two venues in the city capable of hosting an Eric Clapton show, that doesn't work."
Political reaction to Ledohowski's announcement was almost nonexistent. Manitoba Premier Gary Doer declined to comment, though his spokesman praised Canad Inns for purchasing the long-dormant Public Markets site.
"Obviously, it's good the land is going to be developed by a person such as Leo Ledohowski who has a track record of developing projects," the spokesman said.
"However, at this time, we are letting the Bomber board review all proposals first before commenting on any one proposal."
Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz, who has taken the week off, was not available for comment.
In the past, he has repeatedly said the city has nothing further to offer the Winnipeg Football Club, noting the team is exempt from paying property and business taxes, pays $1 for a 50-year stadium lease and enjoys all revenues from parking, concessions, naming rights and entertainment taxes.
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
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