Prince George, B.C. – The final event in the life of the current Kin I centre is underway. The 35^th annual Canadian Home Builders’ 2012 Home Show and Energy Fair kicked off Friday and runs through tomorrow afternoon.

Then what?   The City’s Manager of CN Centre and Community Arenas, Andy Beesley, says the entire Kin complex is going to be dramatically upgraded, thanks in part to the 2015 Canada Winter Games here. The transition starts May 1^st, and Beesley says what we’ll end up with is a 6-thousand seat arena (CN Centre), a one-thousand seat arena (the new Kin I), Kin II expanded to a 500-seat arena and Kin III as it is with about 300 seats. Those will all be under one roof, and Beesley says both the CN Centre and Kin 1 will have convertible ice from NHL to Olympic size. 

Some of the features include ten new dressing rooms the size of the CN Centre dressing rooms, five of which will go into Kin I and five built onto Kin II. The upstairs lounge in Kin I will be re-done with upgraded restaurant service and improved seating  and there will be balcony seats added over Kin II.

Beesley says the budget for the project is about $16 million. The funding formula, he says, is $3 million from Ottawa, $3 million from Victoria and the rest from Prince George.  “We’re not going over budget so we have to make sure that the plans fit into that budget. $16 million these days, just to put it into perspective, if we were to build a new CN Centre you’re talking 50-plus million dollars for something equivalent. A new Coliseum-size arena around $25 million or so.   It’s expensive to do building this year so we’re pretty proud of ourselves for what we’re accomplishing for the 16 million and I might add it’s a limited budget but that’s a lot of money and we appreciate that and so we’re going to squeeze every last ounce of things we can out of that budget.”

Beesley says “one of the important things for people to understand in terms of the cost of why renovate versus build a new arena is the underground infrastructure is already there. The electrical, sewer, the refrigeration plant components, parking areas, sidewalks and so on. The infrastructure underground which nobody ever sees stays put and gets incorporated into the new arena and that’s allowing us to do such a major project with a limited budget.”

Beesely says user groups will be accommodated very well during the construction period. He says nobody will lose any ice time. There will be some minor shifts which will require people to be flexible.

The construction time line goes like this: Work on Kin I starts May 1^st, but Beesley says Kin II will be addressed first so that it can keep being used for the ice season. Construction will go in phases, with completion set for October 2013.