By TERRY PUGH
Nearly two years after construction began in January, 2023, the new $58.3 million Martensville Recreation Centre (MRC) is about to open for business.
A public open house is slated for Friday, October 11 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.. Residents of Martensville and surrounding communities are invited to check out the amenities in the building on that day, including:
* a full-size skating arena and leisure ice surface;
* an indoor climbing wall and playground;
* a lounge and food service concession;
* several multipurpose rooms.
Some areas of the building, including the fieldhouse and batting cages, won’t be open to the public until the spring of 2025.
The new facility fulfills a pressing need for additional ice surfaces in Martensville. The city’s only other indoor hockey rink, the Martensville Sports Centre, was built in the early 1980s, and is unable to accommodate the demand for ice time by the local minor hockey teams.
A grassroots community campaign to build a new arena and multi-purpose recreational facility was launched several years ago to kickstart the project.
Over the years, the Martensville Community Recreation Project (MCRP) has donated over $3.5 million toward the new facility. The MCRP’s ongoing ‘Lace ‘Em Up’ campaign is currently underway with a goal of raising $4 million.
The city is also contributed funds toward the new rink, which was built with the help of infrastructure grants from the federal and provincial governments.
The facility was originally estimated to cost about $44 million, but inflation and the rapidly-increasing cost of building materials, along with other unforeseen factors, boosted the final price tag to $58.3 million.
The MRC is located on the west side of Highway 12 in the Trilogy Ranch neighborhood of Martensville. The land for the building was donated by CanWest Developments. The general contractor for the project was Wright Construction.
The City of Martensville has signed an agreement with Nustadia Recreation to manage and operate the facility. A Community Access Plan negotiated between the company and the municipality for the operation of the facility was approved by Martensville City Council earlier this fall.