Some St Malo arena renos delayed
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The renovations and expansion of the De Salaberry Recreation Facility in St Malo is broken up into phases so that some work can get started soon, while part of the project is delayed until more money can be found.
The hope is that by removing the addition of two new change rooms and showers, the RM will keep borrowing down to $4 million. The federal government announced last June it is giving $3.7 million through its Green and Inclusive Community Building Fund. The Province is contributing $700,000 with the Manitoba Arts, Culture and Sport in Community Fund.
Three tenders came in at over $11 million. RM of De Salaberry council looked at those and voted to cap the project at a maximum of $7.8 million, plus taxes.
The RM had not yet heard back on how much a readjusted estimate will be from winning bidder U Build Construction.
The arena was built in 1974. Reeve Darrel Curé hopes the upgrades will make the building last another 50 years.
He explained that the first phases fell under the grants they received, so were given priority. Energy efficiency and accessibility were the requirements.
Curé hopes construction can start before next spring.
“Because it’s old,” said Curé.
“It’s a community space. It brings people together,” he added.
The upgrades council hopes can move forward right away include moving the new ice plant into a new room, building a new space for the ice resurfacer, demolition of the viewing area and construction of a new one, a multi-purpose room, meeting rooms, washrooms, mechanical rooms, and concession.
St Malo ward Coun. Gaby Tétrault said keeping kids busy was key to keeping them out of trouble. Changing the building so that it was for more than just hockey aims to do that.
“Hockey’s not affordable for all, so that’s why there’s going to be multi-use space,” said Tétrault.
Deputy Mayor Louis Courcelles agreed.
“To me, that’s a big one: going from a hockey rink to a multi-use facility,” said Courcelles, who praised the engineers mandated with getting more people using the building.
Tetrault said there will be room for floor shuffleboard for seniors and others.
“It will be a large enough space where they can do a lot of different programming,” he said.
When all renovations including the now-delayed change rooms are complete, they were estimated to add 10,000 square feet to the building and reduce its energy consumption by 75 percent.
-With files from Cassidy Dankochik.