Don Bosco to become our Training Facility?

[TOBenfica]

Don Bosco is a great idea for a training facility... I imagine that the Argos would coordinate with the city/school board and potentially use it as a community hub for minor football and other activities. The Argos wouldn't need the entire building but some office space and classrooms for meeting rooms. I read that they needed to get out of York as the York lions are starting up and needed the facilities hence the short term lease while they negotiate a long term one.

[Shipyard]

Don Bosco is a great idea for a training facility... I imagine that the Argos would coordinate with the city/school board and potentially use it as a community hub for minor football and other activities. The Argos wouldn't need the entire building but some office space and classrooms for meeting rooms.

Definitely the argos could put field turf and a bubble over the field October thru March, and have community use December thru May when they are off to offset costs and support community associations.


Was talk that the leafs were looking at putting a rink where the tennis courts are and use some the the excess administrative space. Highly doubt that given how things have gone with the Mastercard centre (went bankrupt and i believe the city took it over). As well it's in a very residential area.

[Neely2005]

Why have the Argonauts moved into a shuttered Toronto Catholic high school?

https://theathletic.com/85308/2017/0...c-high-school/

[paulwoods13]

Don Bosco is a great idea for a training facility... I imagine that the Argos would coordinate with the city/school board and potentially use it as a community hub for minor football and other activities. The Argos wouldn't need the entire building but some office space and classrooms for meeting rooms. I read that they needed to get out of York as the York lions are starting up and needed the facilities hence the short term lease while they negotiate a long term one.

But here's the thing. Since the Argos clearly don't need the entire facility, is it easier for the owner to rent the remainder to someone else, or sell the land for redevelopment? The demand for school structures is pretty well limited to schools, so the building is likely not easy to rent out in its current config. That's why I'm not counting on this becoming our permanent home.

[Shatto]

Bds of Ed are very reluctant to sell property as they have to give most of the money to the province but by renting the property, boards retains the funds. For boards with declining enrollments, renting excess space is an important aspect of their business operation. Prior to amalgamation one of the local boards was renting out more square footage space, than the entire T. D. Centre. The spaces are rented to private schools, other boards, provincially funded community groups, days cares and yes occasionally to private business as office space.

In one case, a developer built a brand new, high tech school for the arts on the original property, in exchange for the air rights above the school.

I mention the above, to show that Bds if Ed can be very creative in the use of closed properties particularly for financial purposes. The Argos are likely using the one year contract to research how appropriate a long range rental agreement would be for the team. As mentioned before the one year contract may provide the Argos with first right of refusal for future rental agreements. The possibilities are endless---astro turf the field and build a bubble above it/use the gym (s) as a combination workout and weight room/turn classrooms into change rooms/ turn classrooms into meeting rooms/rent any space they don't need, to other sports organizations etc etc. The one year contract allows the team to explore all these options and more. Perhaps the team will decide the school is not a fit for their long range plans or perhaps they will get a state of the art sports facility for a fraction of the cost of building one---only time will tell. Heads up to management for exploring an exciting possibility.