So who is the Paletta group and why is it so keen on bringing the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to Burlington?
According to its website, the family-owned Paletta International Corporation is one of the largest and most successful land development companies in Burlington. It has holdings in communities from Niagara Falls to Toronto.
It also has a meat packaging company, Tender Choice Foods Inc. that has prominent companies that retail their products worldwide.
Angelo Paletta, the president of Paletta, said for the past three years he has envisioned developing a 125-acre property that the company owns, into a full centre of excellence for sports, entertainment and recreation.
It would include a hotel, offices, residential condominiums, restaurants, retail stores and a 9,000-seat hockey arena, which has already been zoned.
Partnering in a potential move with the Tiger-Cats, to move the team to Burlington and contribute to the building of a stadium for football and soccer became a new part of the plan when talks began with team in June.
"It wasn’t a Hamilton versus Burlington or Burlington versus Hamilton scenario, it was just more of a plan B situation if it couldn’t come together in Hamilton," Paletta said.
But the talks intensified and ultimately grew into the serious stage, when Hamilton City Council rejected Mayor Bob Bratina’s motion last week to consider a different site for the stadium.
If Hamilton doesn’t come to an agreement by February 1, the Pan Am Games Host Committee will cancel plans for a soccer stadium – and the national and provincial funding it has promised – and move to another location.
Moving the team to Burlington, could be a solution for HostCo and Young, pending an acceptable proposal by the Paletta group and should Hamilton no longer be part of the plans.
"I think most of the ground work has been done (by the Tiger-Cats). I don’t think it would take that long to put it together and have it submitted to (HostCo)," Paletta said.
While his company has no experience building stadiums, Paletta guesstimates it would take 18 to 24 months.
Paletta says the plan for the hockey arena is to bring an Ontario Hockey League or American Hockey League team.
"It would be nice to extend it for a higher use," Paletta said.
When asked if that meant expanding the arena so it could potentially house a National Hockey League team, Paletta said: "Anything is possible."
Paletta said the plan for the football stadium would not cost the taxpayers any money.
