Thursday, July 30, 2009

Alberta supports the ENMAX Centre Expansion project

Press Release

LETHBRIDGE - Today, the Hon. Ray Danyluk, Minister of Municipal Affairs, announced that the Province of Alberta is providing $17.8 million in funding from its Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) to support the completion of the ENMAX Centre Expansion project.

“Over the years, the ENMAX Centre has been a hub of activity for citizens in communities across southern Alberta. I am pleased that the Government of Alberta can support an expansion project that brings communities together,” said Danyluk. “Throughout the province, MSI funding is having a real impact, by enabling local councils, like Lethbridge, to make decisions that meet the needs of their citizens.”

“The provincial funding announced today is in addition to the $3.7 million in funding from the province’s Major Community Facilities Program (MCFP) announced last December,” says Greg Weadick, MLA Lethbridge West. “The MCFP funding was based in large part on community support. Clearly the residents of Lethbridge and surrounding communities appreciate the value of having a facility of this caliber in the community.”

“Partnerships have made this $33.7 million dollar project possible,” says Mayor Robert Tarleck. “The City is grateful to the Province of Alberta for contributing almost two-thirds of the funding for an expansion project that will see about 41,000 sq. ft. of space and major new amenities added to the building.”

In addition to the funding from the Province, the City of Lethbridge will contribute $4.3 million and, in partnership with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, support a loan of $7.9 million which will be paid back through a combination of new facility revenues sources, and a contribution from the Hurricanes of $2.5 million over 15 years.

Demolition of a portion of the existing structure has begun, and the building is closed for renovations over the summer. Construction will be scheduled over a three-year period, with major construction phases scheduled during the summer months.

“During the height of the entertainment season the shows will go on,” says Tarleck. “The expansion is scheduled for completion in the late summer of 2012. Once the project is complete, the upgraded facility will continue to bring high quality entertainment to the city for another 35 years.”

(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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