Drew Dilkens will tell you he is the Windsor Express's biggest fan. He's a regular fixture in the stands at their games. He has even travelled out east to see them play.
However, when it came to making the former Windsor Arena the basketball team's new home, the city's mayor could not ignore certain facts.
"They don't have the money," said Dilkens.
Windsor Express CEO Dartis Willis.
On Thursday, the team's owner Dartis Willis told reporters the city had backed out of a project to transform the "Barn" and did not an explanation.
Dilkens told BlackburnNews.com on Friday Dartis was well aware the city had concerns early on.
Under the proposal, the city would pay $1-million to replace the roof and another $1-million to gut the interior. The Windsor Express would buy the property for $1 and then go to a financial institution for a mortgage to complete the project.
"We asked specifically for audited financial statements, and we asked for a letter of guarantee from a financial institution that if we were to do this, there was a financial institution on the other end actually loan the money," explained Dilkens. "What we got was a letter that said they agreed to review an application."
Willis said the team is still committed to the project but will have to go back to square one.
The transformation will not come cheap. In addition to a new roof, Dilkens said the power has been off in the building since it closed and the washrooms have been decommissioned. He said the needed repairs would be in the ballpark of $12-million.
This is the third time a project has fallen through on that corner of Wyandotte Street East and McDougall Street.
When the Windsor Express first came to the city in 2014, it was offered the arena, but turned it down in favour of the newer WFCU Centre. There was also the urban market proposal, and the plan to build a new Catholic Central High School on the site.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens July 9, 2019. Photo by Mark Brown/Blackburn News.
"I think the public will recognize there's been great effort to find a practical reuse of this property for a number of years," Dilkens said. "We've come to a point where we don't have any viable proposals in front of us."
City council has asked for a report detailing how much it would cost to demolish the building.
"In my conversations with a number of people in the development community locally, the fact that the arena is there is actually hampering the ability to see that property developed in the future," Dilkens explained.
So far, city council is still waiting for that estimate.