An article in the St. Catharines Standard.
NASCAR track talks ramp up
Fort Erie mayor visits Dubai in bid to seal deal on $150M speedway
Posted By JENNIFER PELLEGRINI AND DAN DAKIN, SUN MEDIA
Posted 50 mins ago
The wheels are in motion to bring a NASCAR-level speedway to Fort Erie.
Fort Erie Mayor Doug Martin is in Dubai this week, trying to seal the deal with prospective investors for the $150-million speedway.
With him is Jim Thibert, general manager of the town's Economic Development and Tourism Corp., and Ontario's minister of economic development and trade, Sandra Pupatello. The trio is working to lower the checkered flag on talks that would bring a 1.6-kilometre oval to the west side of the QEW between Bowen and Gilmore roads.
Sun Media attempted to contact Martin and Thibert in Dubai for comments after rumours began swirling in the community that an announcement could be made as early as today, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
Acting mayor Tim Whitfield would not confirm the nature of the trip, beyond saying the two Fort Erie officials are in the United Arab Emirates, where they are part of the Ontario International Investment team at the Cityscape Expo in Dubai.
"It's just an opportunity to hopefully cultivate foreign investment for Ontario and, most importantly, Fort Erie," the councillor said during Monday night's council meeting.
However, Regional Chairman Peter Partington's executive assistant, Neal Roberts, confirmed the chairman's office has received an embargoed press release about the development, but would not discuss what the release said.
The project is being spearheaded locally by Chippawa residents Jay Mason and his son, Jesse, an auto racer and graduate of one of the top racing engineering schools in the United Kingdom.
With negotiations at a critical stage, the Masons are keeping quiet about the proposal's current status and details of the project, but confirmed their investor has spent about $5 million on land costs and to complete a variety of studies, including environmental, sound and traffic assessments.
"We're working on it. We have an investor in play who has made a specific commitment at this point," Jay Mason said. "Diligence is continuing on.
"We've basically done every study we can possibly do. They're the maximum that can be mandated by the province," he said.
If the development is successful, it will be the only track of its kind in the country.
The group had tried to build a track on the site of the International Country Club golf course in Stevensville, but those plans fell through when that property was deemed unsuitable for what they needed.
The issue seemed to go quiet for almost two years, but Mason's group was laying the groundwork for the new location, which he said is far superior to the golf course site.
"It's closer to town, so it will have more economic benefit. The infrastructure solutions are better; we have two exits and we're directly highway side," he said.
He called the area ideal for a speedway because of its proximity to the U. S. border and the hotel rooms and attractions in Niagara Falls.
Mason said the economic benefits to the region would be overwhelming.
In addition to 80 full-time employees and 2,500 part-time workers, the track is expected to generate $150 million to $200 million per year for the local economy.
That's because racing fans travel long distances to attend top-level racing events such as NASCAR and Indy Racing League.
According to Mason, studies have also shown fans like to visit casinos and horse racing tracks, and that casinos see a 200 to 360 per cent jump in gaming during event weekends at NASCAR tracks in the U. S.
The population base within a 320-kilometre radius of Fort Erie is more than 26 million people.
"The benefits to Niagara Falls, Fort Erie and the region are pretty huge. It will drive more business into Fort Erie and it will benefit the whole region," Mason said.
Greg MacPherson, editor of auto racing publication Inside Track Motorsport News, said he has heard rumours of tracks planned to be built around the country over the years, but said this one seems to have more validity than the others.
"To their credit, they were smart enough to keep things quiet until they've lined up their ducks. The fact they think they're getting to that stage would lend credibility.
"A lot of times it's the other way around where people come out and show plans before they have any financing to back it and it just hangs on the vine," he said.
"People are justifiably cynical, but with NASCAR's success in this country, there's no reason that location couldn't support a big-league oval."
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