A $3.5-million upgrade at the Centrium is running a little behind schedule as the sports arena gears up for the Rebels new hockey season.
Construction began in mid-April for the project that includes 13 more luxury suites, 40 club seats and an additional 1,000 seats added to the 6,000-seat centre.
Westerner Park general manager John Harms said on Wednesday that all of the seating will be done by the time the Rebels have their first home game on Sept. 21.
General contractor is Timcon Construction, which Harms said has done a fabulous job.
“The suites will likely not be done until the end of September,” said Harms. “We’re a little bit behind.”
Timing and design work got behind, he said.
Hockey fans will still be able to walk around and enjoy the full area of the Centrium, except within those suites that will need more time to finish, Harms said.
Harms added that they’ll also have to work around Rebels training camp, which runs from Aug. 26 to 29.
The Black and White inter-squad game runs on Aug. 29.
“The ice will be in for five days and then we’ll take it back out so they can finish the construction using the ice level,” said Harms.
“They’ll be craning things into position.”
The structural steel is up for the first level and the floor has been installed.
Harms said the final beams are now being worked on so that the bleachers can be installed early next week.
“There are two levels of suites going in and 500 seats on either end of the west bowl,” he said.
Once the renovations are finished, people will see a big difference in the kinds of events that Westerner Park will be able to attract.
“We’ll be able to bid on more national and international events, just strictly because of the increase in size,” said Harms.
He said they’ve spoken with the Canadian Curling Association about the Tim Hortons Brier men’s curling championships returning to Red Deer.
Total grant funding for this $3.5 million project will come from the province’s Community Facility Enhancement Program ($1.75 million), the City of Red Deer ($1 million), and Red Deer County ($500,000).
Westerner Park will make up any shortfalls in the total construction cost.
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com