Place Bell (Laval, Quebec)

Place Bell
Location Laval, QC
Coordinates 45°33′21″N 73°43′18″W / 45.5558°N 73.7218°W / 45.5558; -73.7218Coordinates: 45°33′21″N 73°43′18″W / 45.5558°N 73.7218°W / 45.5558; -73.7218
Opened 2017
Tenants
Laval Rocket (beginning in 2017)

The Place Bell is a multipurpose sports facility under construction in Laval, Quebec, Canada. It will include a 10,000 seat main arena and two smaller ice rinks.

The former mayor of Laval, Gilles Vaillancourt, announced the project on February 13, 2012.[1][2] The facility will be managed by Evenko, the same company that operates the Bell Centre in Montreal, home of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League. As in the case of the Bell Centre, the naming rights for the Laval arena have been acquired by Bell Canada.[3] The cost of the project has roughly doubled since it was first announced. Originally announced by Vaillancourt in 2012 to cost $92.6 million, the estimate was revised less than a year later to $150 million. In March 2014, Laval's new mayor Marc Demers estimated that the cost of Place Bell would double to $200 million, because of costs not factored by the previous administration. The Government of Quebec is committed to contributing $46 million; Demers has asked that the province assume more of the costs, as it has for other arena projects.[4][5]

Initial plans called for the arena to be built in the city's Quartier de l'Agora district, next to the Laval courthouse, but the unstable soil in that location led to a move. In October 2012, the city announced that the project will be located adjacent to the Montmorency station of the Montreal Metro Orange Line.

Construction started in late 2014 with a completion date in 2017.[6][7]

On 11 July 2016, the Montreal Canadiens announced it would relocate its American Hockey League affiliate, then known as the St. John's IceCaps, to Place Bell in 2017.[8] On 8 September 2016, the Canadiens announced the team would be named the Laval Rocket.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Laval pushes ahead with arena plans: Sports complex set to be completed by 2014", CBC News, February 13, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Laval to go ahead with controversial $120-million sports complex", Global Montreal, February 13, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Laval ice complex to be run by management of Habs’ Montreal arena", The Hamilton Spectator, February 13, 2012.
  4. ↑ Martin C. Barry, "Laval to build Place Bell amphitheatre by 2014", Laval News, February 27, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Laval's Place Bell arena to cost $50M more in overruns". CBC News. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  6. ↑ François Gagnon, "Laval: la Place Bell changera d'adresse", La Presse, October 10, 2012 (in French).
  7. ↑ "Le déménagement de la Place Bell confirmé", Courrier Laval, October 14, 2012 (in French).
  8. ↑ "Canadiens moving AHL affiliate to Laval in 17-18". AHL. 11 July 2016.
  9. ↑ "New Laval AHL team will be known as the Rocket". CJAD. September 8, 2016.
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