Westerner Park has announced it’s building its largest venue to date, able to stage bigger events in Central Alberta.
Officials unveiled a wish-list that includes a possible hotel, and a convention centre.
Construction of a new building is underway at Westerner Park, with a completion date scheduled for February 2019. Plans were unveiled at an open house Tuesday night staged at Westerner Park.
The Exhibition Hall, which will be Westerner Park’s biggest facility, will offer a larger venue for events in Central Alberta. The 70,000-square-foot structure will connect Stockmens Pavilion to the Agricentre.
Ben Antifaiff, chief executive officer and general manager at Westerner Park, said the expansion means new, large scale events will be hosted in Central Alberta.
“We have a vision of banquets for 2,000 people and trade shows for 5,000 people and larger convention facilities where we need a lot more break out space,” he said.
The Exhibition Hall will convert into an indoor pitch to accommodate activities like rugby and soccer during the winter months.
More than 100 people came out to the open house to learn about the park’s short-term plans, which includes the exhibition hall and upgrades of the existing Centrium and Agriplex.
Attendees were shown options for long-term planning, which included eliminating an onsite race track and adding more parking options.
Antifaiff said additional parking space would be rentable, which would, in turn, create revenue for the park.
The long-term plans for the park consists of a convention centre and potentially a hotel. Creating a galleria – an indoor pedestrian walkway that would connect all of the park venues – is also on the list.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that Central Alberta needs a convention centre,” said Antifaiff, while adding economic benefits of having large scale venue space.
“Much like what we’re seeing right now with bringing Canadian Finals Rodeo to Red Deer and also having Agri-Trade (Equipment Expo) here.”
Antifaiff said the park is financing the Exhibition Hall at the cost of $15 million. For the other future projects, like the convention centre ($26 million), galleria ($17 million), hotel ($46 million), the organizers will look into fundraising options. The estimated costs for the full site plan is about $180 million.
But that’s not set in stone, said Antifaiff, adding that the list contains a lot of “nice-to-haves,” which can be eliminated.
“It’s just a vision right now.”
Those in attendance were asked to provide feedback on park’s plans.
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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