2013 2013 Construction crews work on the Regional Event Centre
• Council taps PCL Construction to build the REC. The building’s capacity for hockey is set at 6,129, including corporate boxes, and 7,055 for concerts. Price Tag: $74.9 million.
• On September 20, the ground is broken for the REC project at Box Springs with doors scheduled to open in mid-August 2015.
• Cypress Country announces a $700,000 contribution to the city’s $10 million REC community fundraising goal.
2014
• In September, the REC fundraising committee headed by former alderman Jamie White offi cially kicks off with the goal of raising $10 million.
• Redcliff votes to contribute $10,000 a year for the next decade towards that goal.
• City offi cials estimate that if not enough money is raised, a $2.15 per-ticket charge would make up the difference over 30 years.
Councillors and media take a tour of the construction site of the Regional Event Centre in August 2014. The building will open in time for the 2015/2016 hockey season.
Construction continues on the Regional Event Centre Event Centre reality
out on the sparse prairie outside his office window Hashem doesn’t see grass and wild rose bushes: He sees new malls, sports bars, restaurants, car dealerships, hotels and retail outlets. He sees paved streets and parking lots. A growing commercial tax base for the city. He sees new jobs coming in and the promise of major sporting events and big entertainment acts stopping by. All thanks to the Event Centre.
“We are excited. We are seeing lots of activity. Is it going the way we want it to go? Yes. Are we getting from the Event Centre what we hoped to get? Yes. And the promise of the future is bright. In 2006 we rolled the dice and now it is starting to pay off. We are not concerned that it will pay off now. We are only concerned about when.”
Over at Medicine Hat City Clugston sits in a comfortable arm chair in his office in front of a small coffee table centred with a yellow daffodil bouquet. It’s been a long day for the mayor. He has been doing phone interview after phone interview on the
city’s homelessness fight, with the other demands of his office soaking up his sparse free time. But one mention of the economic possibilities of the Event Centre and Clugston sits back in his chair with a smile.
“I always call it our crown jewel,” says Clugston. “It is the largest capital project in the history of the city dollar-wise. It’s right on the highway; so rather than people going to Calgary for a concert hopefully surrounding communities will be coming here for concerts and events. It helps our city grow-up a bit.”
y ”
Clugston feels the 10-year fight to get the Event Centre built in Box Springs has been absolutely worth it.
“It is all on target to open. And it’s all bought and paid for. It’s impressive. It’s three times the size of the current Arena. Another reason I am happy is there is private sector construction going up all around it; which is what we said it was going to do. Of course that was only a prediction, but it has come true.”
Clugston anticipates the Event Centre will be a major attraction in Medicine Hat for many decades to come. He points to an old photograph of Medicine Hat’s Southview Mall which opened with an equal amount of anticipation and criticism in 1980 on what was then a bare patch of prairie on the city’s outskirts. Today it is the centre of a thriving commercial, retail and residential district.
ng
“These things take time, but there is a lot of room for development out there in Box Springs,” says Clugston. “Over time the growth will be there. This is Alberta. I would bet construction out there could be going on for 30 years. They have a lot of land and the Event Centre is just phase one.”■
2015 2015
• In February, it’s revealed the Tigers and REC facility operator have yet to come to an agreement on lease terms.
The regional event centre timeline were compiled from News articles by reporters Tim Campbell, Karen Karbashewski, Nicole Riva, James Neely, Sean Rooney, Darren Steinke, Angus Henderson, Scott Schmidt, Tenille Tellman, Collin Gallant, Amanda Stephenson and Alex McCuaig.
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