This is probably worth attending:
The Future of Maple Leaf GardensSt. Lawrence Centre Forum
April 14, 2004 – 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Jane Mallett Theatre at StLC
Free AdmissionMaple Leaf Gardens has been vacant for five years, since the Air Canada Centre has opened. It was constructed in 1930 in the Art Moderne style, and remains a handsome structure which the city has designated as a building of historical and cultural merit. Several proposals have been submitted to the owners of the Gardens, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, including turning it into a supermarket or converting it to condominiums.
This public meeting will be a chance to discuss publicly the future of Maple Leaf Gardens:
- Speakers:
- Lisa Rochon
- architectural critical for The Globe and Mail
- Frank Mahovlich
- Senator, and former player with Toronto Maple Leafs (tbc)
- Dave Bidini
- amateur hockey player, guitarist with Reostatics, and author of Tropic of Hockey: My Search for the Game in Unlikely Places (tbc)
- Jack Diamond
- Toronto architect and planner with Diamond and Schmitt Architects Incorporated.
Moderator: Phyllis Lambert: architect and former head of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.
Eugene Melnyk, owner of the Ottawa Senators and Toronto's Ontario Hockey League team, the St. Michael's Majors, tried to buy Maple Leaf Gardens as a home for the Majors and a museum for minor hockey. His bid was apparently rejected because MLG's current owners, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (owners of the Leafs and the Raptors), doesn't want it to be a venue that would compete with their new arena, the Air Canada Centre; the ACC is already facing competition from the Ricoh Coliseum, a new arena down at exhibition place that hosts the American Hockey League's Toronto Roadrunners.
Then Loblaws had expressed interest in renovating the Gardens into a downtown grocery super-store, which actually makes sense in some ways, given how many people are moving into condos in the core. They've since pulled out of the deal because the site was going to be more expensive to convert than they'd thought.
Last I heard, Home Depot had expressed some interest in using the site for a store/condos combination, which, for some reason, appeals to me a lot less than the idea of a grocery store. I've also heard some opinions that the Gardens would make an ideal site for the Hockey Hall of Fame; unfortunately, they're quite firmly ensconced at their current site on Front.
That's where things stand, I think... which is why the forum should be interesting. It's good to see some public debate about a site that's so important to so many people.
[bonus points to anyone who knows the source of this post's title...]
Posted by madhava at March 23, 2004 04:15 PMI may be pulling this out of you-know-where (a hat, obviously -- sheesh), but isn't that Voltaire? Sadly, even if I'm right, I don't remember from which work, because I think I heard/read about this second-hand, in some sort of excerpted passage or explanation. I vaguely remember it having something to do with life, optimism about vs. bleakness of, and what to do about it (strive vs. survive?). Is it from the time/work when Voltaire was expounding on life as being "in the best of all possible worlds" (optimism/strive) vs. "well, maybe the world's not so good after all, but you gotta do what you can do." (bleakness/survive) :) I don't suppose that mangling of Voltaire's philosophy is specific enough to earn the bonus points? ;)
Posted by: Anatole at March 23, 2004 11:27 PMDing ding ding!
We have a winner. It is indeed Voltaire — from Candide, specifically.
Bonus points awarded and added to your account.
Posted by: madhava at March 24, 2004 12:13 AMAlthough I had to rely heavily on Google-fu, I believe that the quote had something to do with how even if one becomes wealthy and powerful, there's nothing as rewarding as taking care of one's own business as opposed to handing it off to servants and lower-classmen. Or maybe it was a comment about how France should cease its foriegn politics and become an inward-facing nation that cares little for world opinon and does nothing but look after its own self-interests ... that's how the nation took it, anyway.
About the Gardens, though: I'm kinda sad that I never got to see a hockey game in it, and was always a little more than annoyed that MLS&E kept it from continuing to be a hockey venus. However, I have a modest proposal of my own: make it a public skating rink and indoor market. There's plenty of boutique-y draw at the Carleton and Church area (or, at least, just a smidge north of there) and it could easily extend down another block to be the bridge between the village and College Park. The rink could be used as an all-year public skating venue, and could be rented for private functions and old timers games, etc. The rink surrounds could be turned into a walking promenade with street level retail and above ground office/condo (SOHO) space.
Or, you know, not. It's 1:14 and I'm just spouting ideas.
Posted by: Mike at March 24, 2004 01:14 AMMike -- that's an interesting idea... I like the idea of it becoming mixed-use public space. There really aren't a lot of public skating rinks downtown.
This is interesting, too:
http://www.culture.gov.on.ca/english/culdiv/heritage/crb/toronto_mapleleaf-gardens.pdf
It's the "report pursuant to Section 29 (12) of the Ontario Heritage Act concerning the proposed designation of Maple Leaf Gardens under part IV of the Act for architectural and historical reasons."
Posted by: madhava at March 24, 2004 11:11 AMThe invasion of the suburbian giants? Though I've never been a huge Leafs fan, or hockey fan, or sports fan (aahhh what have I revealed?), somehow converting something with as much history and reverence as the Maple Leaf Gardens into some giganto-chain mega-store complex would feel a tad sacrilegious.
My vote? I think U of T should buy it, so they stop whining about their lack-of-stadium problems and trying to foot the bill of building a new one on the students. ... but that's just what I think.
Posted by: kurt at March 25, 2004 01:44 PM