Im glad for the good fortune for the city with the new pan am stadium and playoff berth.
-As for the future of Ivor Wynne, this is a perfect opportunity for ownership to develop a plan to turn the site into a permanent practice facility.
-The Team could demolish the stands that cant last, and keep the bleachers that will hold up. Also the turf and lines can be kept, the team could put a practice bubble over the field during the winter months so that the community could use it for indoor soccer, football, lacrosse, etc., the team could even use it as an off-season training site for the winter and they could even hold the CFL combine there.
God I hope not. That would destroy a perfectly functional neighborhood. Community housing projects around the city are all disasters. Community housing is needed but high density community housing isn't the way to go. Buy individual houses and subsidize rent in private apartments spreading the welfare cases and not creating gettos
Way too expenisve to maintain as a practice facility or community field. It has to generate income to remain viable and without the Cats for tenants, it can't survive. Sell the land to a developer and have the City put the money towards other municipal infrastructure improvements. Developed land also generates tax revenues for the City, thus easing the burden on everyone else.
Well … That sums up what im saying . Kenora the 2nd or congress the 3rd ?
I would like to see a BIG Community center with a little bit of a field left for Sport’s like soccer, touch football , Minor Football practice or any other athletic programs for the Local kids . Basket Ball court’s and some indoor Ball hockey Promote the Athletics. With Jimmy Thompson Pool across the street , These are the things im dreaming of happening We could be renamed Athletic Alley …
lets get it done, the land is there, put a bubble over the field and it can be a year sports complex that can benefit the hamilton-wentworth region/halton.
Assuming that Hamilton does get a new stadium, which seems likely. What would you like to see done with Ivor Wynne and the surrounding area?
I personally would like to see Scott Park get knocked down and rebuilt into a new and updated school with a brand new park close to it and a smaller field for the school to use, perhaps with a memorial to Ivor Wynne at that site.
The school at Scott park is apparently owned by a foreign corp (from hong kong i believe) that had intended to turn in in to a international school. There have been talk about re-purchasing this school and tearing it down to build a community center.
Be like most of all hamilton's abandoned old buildings .. will sit there and crumble and then fall apart.... then they will clear it out and make it a parking lot .....
I would like to see it become a Community Center for the use of youth programs and minor sport associations.
Most people don't see the activity around IWS at night and revenue generation but weekly there is many bookings at night and during the evenings for soccer,and lacrosse, birthday parties , Minor Football pays a rental fee just like any other league .So why not scale back the stand like many good posts have said tune into a Community field with a Center of some sort for the use for many different activity's ,baby showers , meetings , fund raisers , sports , Keeping kids moving and get the blood pumping should be priority number one in this end of the city and with the history that has come to this great city on this property would be real shame to put low income or any homes on that block . Park,with field or stadium with community center , shrine with history from IWS good ole days something that keeps the Sport and exercise mentality of Hamilton Alive ..With the little revenue that the site can still generate with School boards and many other leagues we should be able to keep this site viable for ALL walks of life ...With some scaling down of the property of course .
Just wanted to elaborate on the excellent idea proposed by Melrose Maniac to build a community centre on the Ivor Wynne Stadium site after the stadium is gone. One hopes that the City of Hamilton will look at the overall redevelopment of the Ivor Wynne Stadium site, Brian Timmis Field and the buildings and park in the Scott Park block along the following lines:
If the City of Hamilton can re-obtain the former Scott Park Secondary School building inexpensively, they should do it within the next year and use it as a temporary community/recreation centre for the next 10 years. The building already has a huge gymnasium in it;
After the Hamilton Tiger-Cats move into the new Pan Am Stadium in 2015 or 2016, demolish Ivor Wynne Stadium by 2017;
Install new Field Turf or recycle the Field Turf from Ivor Wynne Stadium and install 5,000 temporary seats at Brian Timmis Field by 2017 for high school football and soccer as well as amateur and semi-pro soccer and football. Improve the façade around the perimeter of Brian Timmis Field and build entrances/exits to Cannon Street, Melrose Avenue and Balsam Avenue and to the new recreation complex;
Build a community/recreation centre with an indoor pool, twin pad hockey rink and two to four outdoor basketball courts on the old Ivor Wynne Stadium site by 2020;
After the new recreational facilities are constructed on the old Ivor Wynne Stadium site, demolish the old Scott Park Arena, Jimmy Thompson Pool and the former Scott Park Secondary School;
Retain the baseball fields at Scott Park;
If the population in that area increases in density between 2015 and 2020 due to its proximity to the new Light Rapid Transit system along King Street, then the City of Hamilton can either build a new Scott Park Secondary School (with more of an open concept and more windows in it than the old school) or sell the property to a developer to build a condominium by 2025.
A plan of this type would preserve the historic sporting legacy of the Ivor Wynne Stadium property while contributing to the health and sense of community of central Hamilton residents of all ages and providing an impetus for redevelopment in the area. In fact, it would create the same type of legacy that the City of Hamilton will try to create at the new Pan Am Stadium site. A win, win situation indeed!