With only four months to go before the City of Moncton gets the keys to the Downtown Cente, it is looking increasingly polished and ready to go.
Corporate Communications Director Isabelle LeBlanc says good weather has contributed to Bird Construction being able to keep the project on time.
“They’ve had no delays, and the crew Bird has done tremendous work on that, and we are on time,” says LeBlanc. “And this is a guaranteed maximum price building so we are on budget as well with the cost of the building.”
That means the facility pricetag will remain steady at $104 million, since the $4.3 million cost of the adjacent plaza being constructed is not included in the $104 million cost because it is a separate project.
There are several components to the funding model, as LeBlanc explains.
“Part of the funding model required a $5 million fundraising campaign, we’re in a quiet phase right now, and we’ll be coming out very shortly with news regarding the campaign itself,” says LeBlanc.
She says they have flooded and begun testing the ice oval in the plaza.
“We’ll be able to use it four months out of the year, unlike some of our current skating rinks, one near City Hall that I don’t think we’ve skated on once this year because of the wacky weather that we’ve had,” says LeBlanc. “So like other cities have, this will provide skating for about four months and that’s a really neat feature for us.”
A test of the flooding of the outdoor ice surface in the plaza next to the downtown centre.
Feb 28, 2018 at 6:07am PST
The plaza will host outdoor events year round, with LeBlanc saying the plaza is an important community element, where anyone can gather.
She says they’re planning on programming all sorts of activities there “throughout the year, so we’ve got the stage at the back that can accommodate a larger show, or smaller show depending on which side you’re facing.”
LeBlanc adds “we’ve got the fire pit, we’ve got the oval, we’ll have the green space […] so we’re really looking forward to making this space accessible and interesting for different organizations and groups.”
In terms of naming the building, that’s part of management company SMG Canada’s contract, but LeBlanc said they are expecting news on naming rights to come out shortly.
LeBlanc adds the new centre, with 8,800 fixed seats, has 2,000 more than the Coliseum, and with a minimum height twice that of the Coliseum, at 60 feet, it will allow for more concerts and shows.
By way of comparison, Harbour Station in Saint John has a fixed seat capacity of 6,603, and the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax is the largest such building in Atlantic Canada, with a fixed seat capacity of 10,595.
