Town councillors, Spirit Foundation members and sponsors of the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre project got a look inside the facility last Saturday afternoon, and reactions all around were positive and enthusiastic.
Westlock CAO Darrell Garceau led the tour of about 40 people through the nearly completed facility, which is really taking form and offering a clear picture of what the finish product will look like.
“Every time I come in here, it’s more and more exciting,” Spirit Foundation president Wayne Peyre said. “I think everybody who comes through is blown away by the scale of it.”
The facility, which will contain an arena, fieldhouse, walking track, exercise room and a variety of other multi-use and meeting spaces, covers an area of 97,000 square feet.
Peyre said members of the public will also have an opportunity to take a tour of the facility on Feb. 19, so they too can see what’s in store when the facility opens later this spring.
“By that time the seats will be in and the concrete (arena floor) should be poured,” he said.
“It will give people a better sense of the building.”
He noted that despite the cost overruns incurred as a result of the town taking over from Balon Construction, the original contractor, the town is lucky to have got the project going when it did — during a downturn Alberta’s construction industry — or else the price tag could easily have been millions of dollars higher.
Town Coun. David Truckey said he’s really looking forward to seeing the project completed and having the facility open its doors to the many different groups that could put it to good use.
“People are getting pretty excited about getting to book in here,” he said.
The fieldhouse in particular could easily accommodate more than 1,000 seats for a large-scale event, such as a Remembrance Day ceremony or the local high schools’ graduations.
In addition, Truckey said, having all the extra gymnasium space will be a boon for physical activity based groups in town, which now have to rely on the limited gym space at R.F. Staples and St. Mary schools.
Liz Roberts, past president of the Westlock Lacrosse Association, said she is thrilled to see the facility taking shape and just wishes there was something like this in town when her kids were a bit younger.
“This is so nice; it’s long overdue,” she said. “This is definitely going to bring people here.”
Garceau said there is, as yet, no firm date that the facility will be open to the public but he expects town staff will begin to get set up some time in April. Once staff are comfortable in their knowledge of the facility, the doors will open to the public.
