While Edmonton’s current bid for a massive downtown sports complex is set to go before council Wednesday, the current project bears a striking resemblance to another one proposed decades ago, but it is one massive structure that never made it past the paper the plans were drawn on.

Some Edmontonians might remember more than five decades ago, the city was looking at plans to build a dazzling multi-million dollar combination facility – outfitted with a massive football stadium, arena and conference centre.

It was called the Omniplex, and it was slated to be built where the old Remand Centre, Brownlee Building and Edmonton Police Service headquarters currently stand, in the area of 97 Street and 103A Avenue – about three blocks away from where the current proposed downtown arena would be built.

Former Edmonton Mayor Cec Purves was an Alderman at the time; he said at one time, the Omniplex held the attention of most of the city.

“Omniplex caught the imagination really, of everybody,” Purves said. “We could build this thing downtown, we could have an arena, a football stadium and a convention centre all rolled into one and it would be a beautiful thing.”

Just like the downtown arena, Omniplex was touted as development that would be the catalyst to improving Edmonton’s downtown.

“The only building of its kind existing in the world today,” Bill Hunter, the man who brought the Oilers to Edmonton, said at the time. “[It will be] centred in the downtown area of Edmonton, the heart of Edmonton which will revitalize the whole economy of the city, and bring into our city untold millions of dollars through service industries such as hotels, restaurants, theatres.”

Back in 1970, those who supported the Omniplex, in the pre-Commonwealth Stadium era, said the Eskimos could bring the Grey Cup to Edmonton in a covered stadium, with space for 48,000 spectators.

An arena was also included in the design, meant to help woo the NHL to Alberta’s capital city.

“It will house a hockey arena inside the stadium itself, for NHL standards, which will seat 19,600 fans,” Norm Kimball, the former Edmonton Eskimo GM said at the time.

Price a source of controversy for Omniplex

However, just like the downtown arena, the Omniplex had its own share of controversy – much of it was rooted on its price tag.

By current standards, a $20 to $30 million cost might not seem high – but at the time, some feared the debt would be much higher – with all of the components, one alderman was quoted saying the project could cost up to $97 million in total.

Omniplex came with a number of different looks – in one famous rendering, a covered stadium is seen with glass walls – where the hockey arena would actually be underneath the football field.

The field would be raised for hockey games.

“It’s just like this one, it was real sexy, really nice, it was a real sales point sort of thing,” Purves said.

However, the design was found to be well below NHL standards.

“The arena arrangement, with 9,000 seats on one side, 3,000 seats on the other side and 1,500 at each end,” One alderman was quoted saying at the time. “It’s sure a funny looking arena.”

Still other critics said the Omniplex would really only serve the rich.

In the end, two years after a majority voted in support of the facility, about 54 percent of Edmontonians voted against Omniplex.

Within the next few years, the Coliseum was built, and Commonwealth Stadium was built for the Commonwealth Games – both on the north side of the city.

As the 1970s ended, only the convention centre – now the Shaw Conference Centre – began construction in the downtown core.

However, the decision to not build Omniplex is still a good one in Purves’ mind.

“I was looking at it, thinking this isn’t going to work, with those three components in one building, and time has shown me exactly, that’s true.”

With files from David Ewasuk