Ground was broken Thursday on the NHL Seattle training center at Northgate, a milestone for one of the expansion club’s notable facility projects.
Plans were first unveiled in October 2018 for the training facility, which will be located at the former Northgate Mall site and factor into a larger redevelopment of the property. It will feature three ice sheets total, including one that offers seating for 1,000 spectators and two with 400 seats. The $80-million facility will also offer office and training space for the NHL organization, along with a medical facility from sponsor Virginia Mason, and a full-service restaurant.
In addition to accommodating the NHL organization’s needs, it will play a larger role in the community by providing a venue that can host adult and youth hockey leagues and tournaments, along with non-hockey events. During Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony, NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke emphasized how the facility will serve not only the organization, but the Seattle area as a whole. More from the Seattle Times:
Leiweke said the Northgate project will be “an incredible facility for our fans’’ connected by Link Light Rail.
“This whole project has really been developed to serve,’’ he said. “And we start on that by saying we want to serve our players. We want to inspire players we are hoping to recruit. We want to retain players and we want word to get out that this — Seattle — is the place to play.”
As for community aspects: “We are deeply committed to growing the game here in Seattle, from elites to beginners and everyone in between. We want to serve the figure skating community and the curling community … and thousands and thousands of public skaters will come here and have great moments.”
The targeted opening date for the complex is May 2021, months ahead of when the franchise would begin its inaugural season at a venue currently being built by Oak View Group at the old KeyArena. Design work on the training facility is being handled by Generator Studio.
Renderings courtesy Generator Studio.
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