A legacy for the present and future
Friday marked the ribbon-cutting and grand opening for the Canada Games Park and the Walker Sports and Abilities Centre.
During the 2022 Canada Summer Games, the jaw-dropping facility, located at the corner of Merrittville Highway and Sir Isaac Brock Way in Thorold, will play host to box lacrosse, athletics, beach volleyball, wrestling and indoor volleyball, but more importantly the facility will become a hub of activity for present and future generations of athletes in Niagara.
“With any major Games, one of the core reasons to host is for the Games to be a catalyst for the development of facilities within the host community and our plan from the start was always to have a couple of key legacy facilities from the Games,” said Doug Hamilton, the board chair of the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games. “We are really excited that both of them have come to fruition.”
Canada Games Park and the Walker Sports and Abilities Centre are simply awesome.
“They are beautiful. Canada Games Park and the Walker Sports and Abilities Centre at Canada Games Park and our new rowing centre, which isn’t quite completed yet, are gorgeous facilities and great for the community,” Hamilton said.
The buildings turned out exactly how Hamilton thought they would.
“We had a bidding process through the architects and everyone came in with their specific designs. We saw some incredible designs as part of the bid process and ultimately we chose a design that we were going to be very proud of and that’s what you see today.”
The $102.7 million project was jointly funded by: the Government of Canada; the Government of Ontario; the Canada Games Park Consortium partners, Niagara Region, City of Thorold, City of St. Catharines and Brock University; and a generous $3 million contribution from the Walker family.
The 210,000-square-foot facility includes: two NHL-sized arenas, one with seating for 1,200 and the other with seating for about 200; a 6,000-square foot Sport Performance Centre on the second floor that will provide training and testing services for high-performance and developing athletes and coaches in multiple sports; a 10,000-square foot Brock-Niagara Health and Well-Being Centre on the first floor, providing fitness and educational programs for Niagara residents, with a focus on persons with special needs and seniors; a multipurpose fieldhouse with four gymnasiums that can be configured into a centre court with about 700 telescoping permanent seats; a 200-metre track above the field house that meets International Association of Athletics Federation world standards; and, 8,000-square feet of office space.
Outside the building are: six competition beach volleyball courts; a track-and-field facility, including a full 400-metre track and areas for all athletics events (jumps and throws); and, a cycling pavilion and storage facilities for outdoor sport equipment, including bike racks, bike repair stations, and a staging area for cyclists interested in accessing the many trails surrounding the park.
The Canada Games Park Consortium secured ASM Global, an independent third-party operator, to be responsible for the day-to-day operations of Canada Games Park and the Walker Sports and Abilities Centre.
The consortium is made up of the City of St. Catharines, the City of Thorold, Brock University and Niagara Region. It’s four-person management committee includes: Dave Oakes, the City of St. Catharines chief administrative officer; Ron Tripp, Niagara Region’s chief administrative officer; Scott Johnstone, a senior associate vice-president at Brock; and, Manoj Dilwaria, the City of Thorold’s chief administrative officer.
“We have been meeting the last several years and we are the operations side of the building and ASM will report to the management committee,” Oakes said. “We will be making decisions on sponsorships, ice allocation and that sort of thing.”
As part of agreements signed, 60 hours of primetime ice a week has been allocated to both St. Catharines and Thorold. The Brock men’s and women’s hockey teams will be playing out of the facility in September. Oakes expects local lacrosse teams to start using the facility in May.
Operating costs for the building will be shared between Brock, St. Catharines and Thorold. How much that will be has yet to be determined.
“It is hard to say until ASM goes and does the validation,” Oakes said.
The consortium is hoping there will be plenty of revenues to help keep the operating costs down.
“Having the two pads, the tracks, the beach volleyball courts, the four indoor volleyball courts and the track, there are a lot of opportunities and we know the demand in the community is there,” Oakes said. “By having ASM to go out and promote will allow us to have as much use as possible.”
