With the arrival of the Belleville Senators coming closer, progress is picking up on the renovations to Yardmen Arena.
This fall, it was confirmed that the Ottawa Senators would purchase the Binghamton Senators and move them to Belleville, ON. When the team arrives in Belleville for the 2017-18 AHL season, it will play its games at a revamped Yardmen Arena.
The venue, which was previously home to the Ontario Hockey League’s Belleville Bulls from 1981-2015, is being overhauled at a price of $20.5 million. It is expected that Yardmen Arena will have a larger capacity, seating roughly 4,400 spectators, along with new player amenities, and more modern concessions.
Late last week, the city released a statement detailing the project’s progress, and expressed its pleasure with how the renovation was unfolding. More from InsideBelleville.com:
Ball Construction has been fully engaged in the project since November 15, the day after council awarded the construction management contract to the company. Construction work on site started on Dec. 5.
Since November 15, Ball Construction, together with the architectural team of Architecture49 and the city project team, has made progress on design work, drawings and specifications, submission for permits, project tendering and interior demolition.
Council approved an overall project funding of $20.5 million, which within has a recommended construction budget of $16 million.
The $16 million construction budget is part of an $18.5 million budget when architectural, engineering and other costs of $2.5 million are added in. As the $18.5 million budget was set based on a preliminary budget analysis provided by Architecture49 and Ball Construction, staff had added an extra recommendation of $2 million in contingencies for a total recommended project budget of $20.5 million
“The City of Belleville has done a great job in keeping us abreast of the progress in the arena renovation … and we look forward to seeing the project develop in the coming months,” said Belleville Senators Vice President, Roger Lajoie. “(Ottawa Senators and Belleville Senators) owner Eugene Melnyk looks forward to being in Belleville very soon in the New Year. He will be the guest speaker at the dinner for the 2017 Pond Hockey Classic on Feb. 3, and our organization is planning many special events coming up to introduce our entire team to the community.”
As part of their agreement in Belleville, the Senators will lease Yardmen Arena for eight years. The team’s move was finalized by the AHL Board of Governors in October.
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