History
The Air Canada Centre was started by the Toronto Raptors under its initial ownership group headed by Canadian businessman John Bitove. The groundbreaking was performed in March 1997.
While construction was in progress, the Raptors and their partially completed arena were purchased by MLSE. Prior to this development, the Maple Leafs had been contemplating building their own arena to replace the aging Maple Leaf Gardens. MLSE subsequently ordered major modifications to the original design, which was basketball-specific, such that the arena become more suitable for hockey.
Air Canada purchased naming rights to the arena for $30 million dollars over 20 years.
The site was once occupied by Canada Post's Toronto Postal Delivery Building, which was briefly handed over to Department of National Defence for war storage purposes upon completion in 1941, but returned to Canada Post in 1946. The current building retains the striking Art Deco façades of the east (along Bay Street) and south (Lake Shore Boulevard) walls of that structure, but the rest of the building (facing Union Station) was removed to make room for the arena, through the process of facadism. The original building is protected under the Ontario Heritage Act.
The 15-storey tower on Bay Street stands at 55 metres (180 ft) and provides connections in the atrium to Union Station, Bay Street, and York Street (via Bremner Boulevard). The Air Canada Centre is connected to the PATH network.
Read more about this topic: Air Canada Centre
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