City Council Votes On Practice Facility

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Mayor Ford stands next to Councillor Ford as they attend the last council meeting of this term at City Hall

The Toronto Raptors have received the go-ahead from city council to build a practice facility at Exhibition Place.

Mayor Rob Ford took up a familiar role as a dissenting voice against his council colleagues.

The vote was taken on the first day of what is expected to be a marathon council meeting. This is the last vote before the municipal election.

A deal was approved that will see team owners MLSE build a $30-million facility on the city-owned site. The city will own the building. MLSE will cover the operating cost & lease the facility for 20 years.

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The Raptors will have exclusive rights to use two-thirds of the complex, with time set aside for

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The 'High Performance Basketball Development and Training Centre' is designed by Baldwin & Franklin Architects, as well as Oklahoma-based architects Guernsey, who designed a similar practice facility for the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder.

The INTEGRIS Health Thunder Development Center was built from the ground up in Oklahoma City & has been serving the team since the start of this season.

It has a locker room with 18 lockers, 32 offices, a theater/film room, weight rooms, training rooms & endless other amenities.

But one difference between the old facility & the new one is the overall ambiance it seems to give off.

Team spokespeople have said that the entire facility is geared toward "player development."

This means there are no X-Boxes, no Playstations & no other recreational distractions from the job at hand....
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this sounds terrific