The Aud

[realtyforward]

I don't think it would be worse. Downtown Kitchener has thousands of parking spaces primarily for weekday office workers, and very little of that is used in the evenings or weekends. It's also easier to reach by modes other than driving, so more people would be able to shift to those.

It wouldn't be the end of the world if more parking capacity were added downtown - but it has a lot fewer impacts if it's part of a building with other uses, especially at ground floor, rather than a surface lot.

Perhaps in the next decade the thoughts on a future replacement athletic and entertainment centre should consider a 15000 seat arena and a new conference centre combined. 

As for location I think somewhere in or close to the "downtown" area would be better than the half way to Guelph conference centre the Region uses now and the current highway junction that the Aud currently has. Location certainly should be along and adjacent to the LRT corridor and even stopping inside.

I personally think the current location is just fine. It's close enough to the LRT and with a proper shuttle or bus line from the LRT station at Charles/Borden it would be quite accessible. Arenas often are located in the burbs or industrial parks because of their sheer size - remember there were talks of moving it near Bud Park? It would be extremely difficult and extremely expensive to locate it right Downtown. The Aud is close enough to downtown and I see a real opportunity for portions of the parking lot to be developed over time. Make it a destination point with retail, employment and residential and it would be much more desirable - there's basically nothing to do after the game right now then hit the pub at Eastwood Square or drive somewhere else. If the City invested in some well-connected parking structures, portions of the property could be sold for development. A better idea would be to partner with developers to include underground parking in any new development that would occur that could be used by the Aud.

If it was mine, I wouldn't move it. I'd just invest in making it better.