Why Innova Park is the Perfect Location

June 8/2011
In a January 2010 survey by the CJ, a choice of locations for a new multiplex had the favoured site as the Pool 6/Marina Park site over FW Gardens and the tournament center on Hwy 61. In a January 16/2010 letter I suggested that Innova Park would be a “perfect location“, and had been overlooked in the survey. Almost a year and half later the favoured sites according to the most recent CJ survey (June 2/2011), are Innova Park 35 % and Downtown PA (Water street bus depot site) 26 % . I believe the advantages of building at Innova Park and the several disadvantages of the downtown site make Innova Park the best, if not the only choice. These are the reason’s I believe Innova Park should be the location of a new multiplex.
Most importantly, Innova Park is centrally located, which enables all area’s of the city the most equitable access to the multiplex, which all city taxpayers will be paying for. Downtown PA (Water Street) is not, and does not equitably serve the whole city. As Mayor Keith Hobbs said in the CJ June 3/2011, “we have to build a Thunder Bay Multiplex. Not a Fort William or a Port Arthur multiplex.” Only Innova Park serves the city as a whole.
Innova Park has excellent entrance and egress, with lots of room for parking available. With new entrance/exits added on Golf Links Road and Harbour Expressway, with the upcoming four laning of Golf Links with new traffic lights at Central Ave, exiting Innova Park will be extremely efficient. Downtown PA is already short on parking, primarily offering the Red River Road and Court Street parkade’s, exiting will very likely be very inefficient and lengthy. Developing underground parking at the facility would increase its cost to above that of Innova Park.
Downtown supporters also say there are no restaurant’s at Innova Park (at the present time). Within a five minute drive there are five restaurants, three of which are quite popular.
Innova Park offers great opportunity for future expansion, facility flexibility and future development. With the pending Flying J truck stop and property having been purchased for retail development (though I am uncertain of the status of these projects), new development will bring new tax revenue to the city. There is minimal opportunity for expansion in Downtown PA for new development. With the elimination of the Water street transit depot, a new one will need to be constructed at an additional cost. Constructing one in conjunction with the facility will, limit the multiplex size as well as increase its cost. Facility size is completely flexible at Innova Park. In his letter May 17/2011, Cliff Lundberg suggests possibly modelling the multiplex after the Powerade Center in Brampton with all parking within 100 meters of the facility. It also includes extra ice surfaces that would provide extra floor space for trade show’s and keep the facility active. This can only be done at Innova Park.Innova Park has excellent access to the airport, highways, and hotels for out of town guests. City Manager Tim Commisso has said comparative venues in other cities, that the facility was used 60 % for conventions, so access to hotels is important. There are ten (with another one coming) hotels within a five/ten minute drive of Innova Park, three which offer banquet/meeting facilities. There are two older hotels located in Downtown PA, only one offering banquet/meeting facilities. Former Sales Director at the Valhalla Inn Nancy Oster, states in her letter May 14/2011 that such a facility requires “an adequate number of hotel room’s in close proximity to house these participants”. Clearly Innova Park fits this need far more effectively than Downtown PA.
Innova Park is basically next door to Lakehead University which also offers convention facilities. LU makes good use of the FW Gardens presently and likely would make equal or greater use of the facility being “next door”, and would make access easier to support their team.
Supporters of Downtown PA say we need to support the local businesses, the business that seem’s to be getting forgotten is the tenant(s) of the proposed facility. There is no doubt that some on the PA side will not travel to FW Gardens because of its location, I’m certain some on the FW side will not travel to the Downtown PA site for the same reason. Would it not be wise to maximize the full city exposure to a tenant at the multiplex whose success and survival is of primary importance to the facility?
What has to be the most ridiculous argument in support of Downtown PA, is its designation as the “Entertainment District”. This designation was clearly flawed from the beginning. At the time of amalgamation in 1970, there were two entertainment venues there, the Odeon and Paramount theatres, with the city’s major entertainment venue Fort William Gardens located in the other end of town (does that designation make sense?). If this designation is so significant, why was the Cineplex built at the CLE grounds with both those theatres now closed? Claims that the Downtown PA location will “revitalize the downtown care I view with scepticism, FW Gardens has been downtown for 60 years, bringing people “downtown” , ever been in Downtown FW lately, hardly the symbol of vitality! In conversation it was expressed to me, “how many times do we need to attempt revitalizing downtown, first the Ontario Govt Building ( shouldn’t that have been in the south core “Government district?), the casino, Marina Park.
We’ll only get one chance to do this right, in business “location, location, location” is the number one rule, Simpson Sears built in Intercity during the late 1950’s, and have never built a second location because they got it right the first time! Lets follow the foresight Simpson Sears had over fifty years ago and serve the whole city equitably. For these reasons I feel Innova Park is still, the “Perfect location” for a new “Thunder Bay Multiplex”, and will be for decades to come!