IMAGE OF NEW CANADIAN MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Key features of the CMS

• Jeff Gordon signature speedway.
• 65,000 seat facility expandable to 100,000 seats.
• Lifestyle village hotel, and hospitality clusters.
• Composite materials, fuel research & development complex.
• One mile oval course, 2.6 mile FIA certified road course, skid pad and drifting circuit.
• Designed for open wheel, stock car, mixed configuration and motorcycle racing.
• Commercial complex housing strategic industry manufacturers & technology suppliers.
• Jeff Gordon Driving Schools and Driver experience institute.
• Eco Park, bicycle paths and campgrounds.
• 8,000 seat amphitheater
• 80 Luxury suites

JEFF GORDON INVOLVED
IN SPEEDWAY FOR NIAGARA

When golfing legends like Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer finish their playing days, they often become involved in golf course design. It looks like NASCAR superstar Jeff Gordon is following a similar path in auto racing. The four-time Sprint Cup Series champion is involved with a consortium planning to build a $172 million, 623-acre racetrack in Fort Erie, Ont. John Bickford, vice president and general manager of Jeff Gordon Inc., verified to The Buffalo News on Wednesday that Gordon is involved in the project. Bickford — who is also Gordon’s stepfather — stated via e-mail that while there is a letter of understanding between the parties, there is no signed agreement at this time. Gordon was not available to comment. Last October, officials held a news conference in Fort Erie announcing plans to build a 65,000- seat facility located less than four miles from the border, backed by a Kuwaiti financial company called Bayt Al Mal Investments. The track would be located just off the Queen Elizabeth Way, between Bowen and Gilmore roads, officials said. “Jeff Gordon is a world-acclaimed driver and he also has Jeff Gordon [Inc.],” said Jim Thibert, general manager of the Fort Erie Economic Development & Tourism Corp. “It would be huge for this project.” Thibert said Gordon and his representatives have been involved with the project for about two years. “His people from Jeff Gordon [Inc.] have been in Fort Erie,” Thibert said. Gordon’s name was linked to the project in a story in last month’s inaugural issue of “Professional Motorsport Circuit.” The article was written by Azhar Mohammad, who is the executive director of Emirates Consulting, a Toronto-based subsidiary of Bayt Al Mal Investments. Thibert called Mohammad “the official spokesman” of the venture. The article bills the track as a “Jeff Gordon Signature Speedway” and states that the complex will feature “Jeff Gordon Driving Schools and Driver Experience Institute.” The Jeff Gordon Racing School is currently offered at various tracks. The article also states that the complex will include a one-mile oval track as well as a 2.6- mile road course, 80 luxury suites, a hotel, 8,000-seat amphitheater and campgrounds. It says the facility is set to open for racing in the summer of 2011. “We are at a pretty advanced stage—a lot of money has been spent to get to this point,” said Thibert. “From my knowledge of the process and conversations with the director of planning, there’s not a whole lot left.”

3 PROPOSALS MADE FOR RACETRACKS

There's not one, but three separate proposals to build a motor speedway on rural lands along the Queen Elizabeth Way between Niagara Falls and Fort Erie. Sun Media has learned through sources that an investment group is preparing to bring a proposal to Niagara Falls council in the coming weeks to develop a racetrack on a 230-acre parcel of land on Sodom Road. This is a separate proposal from one Fort Erie councillors may soon find on their desks, involving land near Bowen and Gilmore roads. Ken Mech, manager of current planning for the City of Niagara Falls, said a group of "Ontario investors" wants to build a 5.6-kilometre road course on land bounded by Bossert Road, Sodom Road and the QEW that could be available for IRL racing. The IRL is the Indy Racing League, an American-based open-wheel racing series, which includes the popular Indianapolis 500. "(The proponents are) hoping to get some sanctioned events for that," Mech told Sun Media. "They are hoping to ultimately attract a series of eight national and international racing events by 2014 -- either IRL, drag racing, or a combination of both." Mech said the application filed with city hall includes an estimate that events would draw from 10,000 to 40,000 visitors a weekend and provide a huge injection of money into the local economy. "They (the unnamed proponents) are proporting an economic impact of $110 million per annum in the form of accommodations, restaurant expenditures and other visitor spending." He said the investment group's application, which is currently under review by the city's planning department, also calls for a one-kilometre go-kart track, a "modest industrial-type park" and some kind of museum. Mech was unable to provide an estimate of the cost to build the complex. Niagara Falls Mayor Ted Salci was surprised to hear something was in the works. "I'm not aware of this," Salci said when contacted by Sun Media Wednesday. "I haven't heard that at all. I'll find out." The Sodom Road proposal wasn't news to Jim Thibert, general manager of the Fort Erie Economic Development and Tourism Corp. Thibert said there are three groups looking to build racetracks -- two in Fort Erie and one in Niagara Falls at the Sodom Road location. "We are aware of the Bayt al Mal proposal here (in Fort Erie), we are aware of a proposal from proponents who are looking at a site in Niagara Falls, then we have a third proposal for Fort Erie," he said. Last October, plans were announced for a $200-million, 65,000-seat international motor speedway planned for lands near the QEW, between Gilmore Road and Bowen Road. The project is backed financially by Bayt al Mal, a Kuwait-based company. Thibert said the Bayt al Mal proposal is working its way through Fort Erie's planning department. The company has done numerous environmental, planning and engineering studies to support its application. "They (Bayt al Mal) are considerably well along," said Thibert. They've got several million dollars tied up in this, so it's a deadly serious proposition." Thibert said there is another proposal for a racetrack inside the Fort Erie boundary, but would not share details.

Files from the St. Catharines Standard

NEW INTERNATIONAL SERVICES BUILDING BREAKS GROUND

Today, Brock University held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of construction on its new International Services Building. This milestone represents the first tangible result of The Campaign for a Bold New Brock -- the biggest capital fundraising campaign in the University's history launched earlier this month. The building will be the new home for Brock's international operations and the English as a Second Language (ESL) services, including the Intensive ESL program. It will also house the Faculty of Humanities' Department of Classics and expand the department's research and teaching space. The 4,000-square-metre building, designed by Robbie Young & Wright/IBI Group Architects from Toronto, will be located in the area behind 573 Glenridge Ave. The groundbreaking featured remarks by President Jack Lightstone; Kim Meade, Associate Vice-President, Student Services; and Rosemary Hale, Dean of Humanities. "Our world gets smaller every day. That is why our University prioritizes such projects as the International Services Building -- to provide our students with universal learning experiences and opportunities," said Lightstone. "Brock owes it to our own local community to look beyond Niagara, and we are already committed to the concept of a global perspective in a knowledge-based economy -- we already have more than 1,400 international students from more than 80 countries around the world. And we aim to increase our international student population to 10 per cent of our student body, up from less than five per cent." "It is fitting that Classics is a part of a building focused on International Services. This department, concerned with ancient cultures and ancient languages, knows full well the measure of success for internationalization," said Hale. "This new facility will have a museum and preservation lab to help expand the resrearch capacity of Classics and archaeology. Here the students and faculty will be able to analyze the importance of understanding the past." "The consolidation of all international activities under one roof, will support our Academic Plan and the specific objectives to increase the number of international students, foster within our community a sense of social responsibility, and stimulate faculty, staff and student engagement on an international level," said Meade. "As more international citizens come to Brock as researchers and scholars, they contribute their own unique perspectives to our teaching and learning environment." The ceremony also included representatives from the three segments of the University's international operations, Facilities Management and contractors involved with the project.

Files from the Brock University Web News

RENDERING OF NEW 4th AVENUE HOSPITAL

It was touch and go for a while, and at times it seemed like the plan to build a new hospital in St.Catharines would forever be on financial life support. Every time it seemed a deal to finance the construction of the $759-million complex was within reach, something would go wrong. “We came close several times, but each time it fell apart,” said Mike Maracso, CEO of Plenary Health, the company building the hospital. Banks and other big lenders were simply unwilling to cough up that kind of cash. Maracso said in previous projects it would take the company three weeks to finalize a financial deal. But the St. Catharines hospital seemed like it was stuck in development limbo for months. Now, the frustration and the waiting is over. Plenary, backed by the Royal Bank of Canada, the Bank of Montreal and TD Bank, has the money it needs. Work at the new hospital site at Fourth Avenue and First Street is set to begin soon. “This has been a long time in coming,” said Niagara Health System board of trustees chairwoman Betty-Lou Souter. “You have no idea how many times I have been asked if this day was ever going to come. Well now it has.” Within weeks, surveying at the hospital site will start, security fences will go up and top soil removal will begin. An official groundbreaking is scheduled for April 28 and construction is expected to start in earnest in May, and will continue until the end of 2012. The 375-bed acute-care hospital is scheduled to open in early 2013. “This is the largest investment in health care in the history of Niagara and will certainly have a profound and long-lasting impact on the advancement of medical care for the people of Niagara,” Niagara Health System CEO Debbie Sevenpifer said at a news conference Tuesday morning in St. Catharines. Plenary originally had the backing of Deutsche Bank. Maracso said the way things used to work was an institution like Deutsche Bank would cut Plenary a cheque and a project would start. But when the markets tanked in the fall, everything changed and it took a long time to bring together financial partners to make the new hospital a reality. “We’re happy for the NHS. The NHS is happy for us,” he said. “This has been a long time coming.” The projected cost of design, construction and maintenance of the hospital for the next 30 years is $759 million, well beyond the original projections five years ago. When the hospital project first began in 2003, it was expected to cost about $305 million. But Vas Georgiou, spokesman for Infrastructure Ontario, said much has changed in five years. First, construction costs have inflated by more than 50 per cent over time, naturally growing the price of the project. Moreover, significant changes to the initial design to include more infectious disease control measures — including more single-occupancy rooms and handwash sinks — and the addition of 250,000 more square feet for the entire project, drastically changed the price. “You’d be amazed how long you can spend just talking about sinks,” said Gloria Kain, the Niagara Health System’s chief planning and development officer. The NHS has to pay back the money fronted by Plenary over 30 years. Georgiou said if those payments are taken into account along with other costs, the new hospital will cost $1.56 billion. Although the costs have risen, Sevenpifer said the money local residents will contribute — about $117 million — has not increased. “The percentage of the cost the provincial government is taking on has changed,” Sevenpifer said. “When we started, it was around 63 per cent. Now it is closer to 90 per cent.” St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley said that last year the provincial government determined that the costs of hospital projects would be too much for local communities to bear, and so it changed regulations to increase government funding. “The hospital is publicly owned and publicly accountable,” he said. “What has changed is the financing of it. But the benefit of this model is that if anything goes wrong, if there are delays or some other kind of issue that arises, that is the responsibility of the company, not the taxpayer.” With these costs comes major economic spinoff. Georgiou said construction alone will employ 1,000 each day at the hospital site. A projected 5,400 jobs will be created or sustained through the construction period. Georgiou said these include suppliers and other services that support the building site.

Files from the St. Catharines Standard

FUTURE GROWTH OF NIAGARA...
JUST A BUS RIDE AWAY?

A big green GO Transit bus disgorged a bevy of giddy politicians in downtown St. Catharines Sunday afternoon, who gleefully announced the provincial commuter system will start offering regular bus service to Niagara this September. St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra and St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley announced $2.5 million in federal and provincial infrastructure funding to build four new park-and-ride GO stations in Niagara. Construction of the first station - at Casablanca Boulevard and the QEW in Grimsby - will start in June, with service to St. Catharines and possibly two locations in Niagara Falls by September, said Peter Smith, GO Transit's chairman. The locations of the new GO stations in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls still have to be determined, said Bradley, the provincial transportation minister, but GO always wants its stations to be close to a major highway, so they will be somewhere along the QEW corridor. Regional Chairman Peter Partington predicted the new GO service will push Niagara's municipalities to finally establish an intermunicipal transit system. Niagara's GO service will start with nine trips in each direction each weekday, Bradley said, and will connect with the GO Train station in Burlington. Most of the trips will be during the morning and evening commuter rush hours, Smith said, while the question of weekend service "is not yet worked out." Niagara Falls Mayor Ted Salci could not be reached for comment Sunday night, but in his state of the city address earlier this year he stressed the need for a stronger transportation link between Toronto and Niagara. Discussions were taking place with GO Transit and he was optimistic and expressed confidence from the provincial government that this partnership would be solidified soon. "We look forward to the coming date when we can promote an easy travel link to and from Toronto," he said. Smith also could not say how much a trip from Niagara to Toronto will cost, although GO Transit's online trip calculator shows a one-way adult ticket from Burlington to Toronto's Union Station costs $8.05, while a trip from Oshawa to Union Station is $8. Monthly passes or books of 10 tickets are cheaper. Dykstra opened his wallet and took out the GO ticket he bought in 2005 and has been saving for his first ride from St. Catharines, saying he's looking forward to finally using it."There are lots of folks in this community who believed this would never happen," Dykstra said. The new commuter service will help to reduce traffic jams on the QEW, bolster the Niagara economy and boost tourism, Bradley said. "It will create jobs and enhance quality of life," he said. "A bus like this takes about 50 vehicles off the road," said Smith, pointing behind him to the gleaming bus with a scrolling destination sign that read: GO service coming to Niagara Region. Several of the speakers at Sunday's announcement predicted that GO bus service is just a start and GO Train service will eventually come to Niagara. "The rule of thumb is after bus service is introduced, it takes six years for train service," Partington said. McMullan also said he believes GO Train service to Niagara is inevitable. "This is just the start. There will be a train," St Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan said. Private bus companies are already offering daily commuter service to Toronto, acknowledged Dykstra, but the more options there are for people to use mass transit, the more it will grow. "The more buses we have travelling to Niagara, the more we are making people aware," Dykstra said. Sunday's funding announcement will pay for four GO stations. The cost of operating the service to Niagara will be about $3.5 million a year, said Smith, with $2 million covered by fares and the remainder funded by the provincial government. It's too soon to say how many riders will use the service, Bradley said, "but there is not a huge demand at this present time. This will increase awareness." All the politicians who spoke Sunday congratulated each other and said the announcement would never have happened without co-operation between levels of government. "This is a great example of partnership in action," Partington said, "and shows what can happen when we in Niagara speak with one voice."

Files from the Niagara Falls Review

Fort Erie
Now in the Horseracing Business

The thunderous sound of galloping horses will once again echo through the grandstands at the Fort Erie Race Track. A deal has been struck between the Fort Erie Economic Development and Tourism Corporation and race track owner Nordic Gaming Corp. that will allow the 112th season of live, thoroughbred racing to get underway in early May. The agreement -which includes a "letter of intent" to purchase the race track for $35 million -ends months of worrying the track was set to close permanently at the end of March. Under the agreement finalized late Wednesday, the racing season will run 78 days from May through October. Threat of closure has been hanging over the historic border oval -the town's largest employer and one of only two thoroughbred race tracks in Ontario -for several years. Fears intensified in December when Nordic Gaming began issuing layoff notices to a majority of its 300 employees, saying the company was no longer willing to operate the facility at a loss. In January, the EDTC, an agency of the Town of Fort Erie, submitted an offer to purchase the racetrack in hopes of setting it up as a not-for-profit corporation, with financial backing from the provincial government.

Written by JOHN ROBBINS , NIAGARA FALLS REVIEW

OMB APPROVES TOWER PROJECT

17 STORY TOWER TIMELINE

July 2001-- St. Catharines city council creates the Port Dalhousie heritage district, which is ratified by the Ontario Municipal Board in December 2003.

September 2003 -- Port Dalhousie Vitalization Corp., a new company formed by Dan Raseta, Ralph Terrio and Eric Moog, announces its acquisition of key land holdings in Port Dalhousie's commercial core from developers such as Nino Donatelli and Patrick Little. PDVC says it intends to redevelop.

April 2004 -- World-renowned architect Jack Diamond unveils a proposal for an 80-unit, 20-storey condominium tower, in addition to a hotel, theatre and shopping complex and a new glass enclosure for the city-owned carousel in Lakeside Park.

June 2004 -- Citizens group PROUD (Port Realizing Our Unique Distinction) announces its opposition to the development because of the project's failure to maintain the 19th-century canal village streetscape, and its violation of the city's zoning and heritage guidelines.

December 2004 -- Niagara Citizens for Smart Development is formed in support of the proposal, arguing for the many economic benefits it will provide.

October 2005 -- On the eve of the release of the City of

St. Catharines planning report on the proposal, PDVC withdraws its development application and requests the city planning report be sealed. City council agrees to keep the report secret.

November 2005 -- Mayor Tim Rigby forms an "action committee" of about 20 unidentified individuals with the intention of persuading PDVC to submit another proposal.

February 2006 -- PDVC submits a second proposal, this one by architect Michael Kirkland. It has the same components as the first application, except the 80 condo units are now in a 17-storey tower.

June 2006 -- Seven-day public meeting is held to consider the second proposal. St. Catharines councillors approve it by a 7-5 vote.

October 2006 -- Niagara regional council also votes to approve the application. Decisions of both St. Catharines and Niagara Region councils are appealed by numerous groups and individuals to the Ontario Municipal Board

November 2006 -- Municipal election sees half of city council replaced by new councillors. New Mayor Brian McMullan campaigned as being opposed to the tower.

February 2007 -- OMB mediation between PDVC, the city, and PROUD is unable to reach a compromise.

March 2007 -- City council withdraws its support for the development.

October 2007 -- City council rejects PDVC's heritage permit application.

November 2007 -- City council rejects PDVC's site plan application. An OMB pre-hearing is held, which sets the timeline and agenda for the full hearing, scheduled for 15 weeks.

Feb. 20, 2008 -- OMB hearings begin at City Hall.

June 2008 -- Hearing breaks for four months

Oct. 8, 2008 -- Hearing resumes with conservation architect Herb Stovel testifying for PROUD.

Oct. 27, 2008 -- Evidence wraps up.

Nov. 10, 2008 -- Final arguments begin.

Nov. 19, 2008 -- After 71 days of hearings held over the course of 21 weeks, the hearing ends.

Feb. 27, 2009 -- OMB decision comes down, approving the Port tower.

Files from the: ST. CATHARINES STANDARD

Port Dalhousie Vitalization Corp.

THE BELLAGIO NIAGARA CONDO RESIDENCES

I have been meaning to take pictures of this since the shovels hit the ground last year, but better late then never. Here is a new 5 story condominium building on Mcleod Road offering 2 and 3 bedrooms, as well as penthouse condos.

FUTURE DAVE & BUSTERS FRANCHISE

This will be a nice addition to Clifton Hill! The new Dave & Buster's will be a 9100 sq foot restaurant with seating for 250.