Woodbine Entertainment Group, operators of the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada last week unveiled plans for a 165,000 square foot entertainment venue.
It will include an arena with seating for 5,000. The plan hangs on a market feasibility study, although Woodbine says it expects that the growing visitors market will justify the project.
Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson told reporters “There will be an entertainment facility built here,” Lawson said. “This is where we’re at today. As the Ontario Lottery and Gaming modernization process proceeds and we work together on an integrated product, the plans could change for this. There is no question there will be an entertainment venue here.”
He predicted that the project could begin building next year and open the following year.
Last year the Woodbine City Council endorsed the idea of expanded gaming at the racetrack.
A spokesman for Woodbine Mayor John Tory said, “He would rather see a broader kind of entertainment complex in that area than a stand-alone box casino,” and added, “Woodbine Entertainment Group is moving in this direction with the development of an entertainment venue where people can go to that part of the city to watch shows or concerts.”
