The opening date of the Community Credit Union Arena at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre (RECC) has been confirmed.
The arena will open on March 2 for the Truro Bearcats Maritime Junior Hockey League game against the Metro Shipbuilders.
“We’ve said from early on there would be a staggered opening, and that’s going to continue to be the case,” said Kathy Sutherland, marketing and public relations co-ordinator for the RECC. “The opening of the Community Credit Union Arena will also include the walking and jogging track, as well as our meeting rooms.”
The $48-million centre was originally to open in September, but that was pushed back to October, November and again to the winter. The delays were for various reasons, including problems with paint adhering to factory-applied primer on the beams in the arena.
“We are absolutely excited,” said Sutherland of the confirmed opening of the arena. “We can’t wait for the community to see inside. We know it’s great and want the community to see that as well.”
While the arena is scheduled to open the first weekend of March, the fitness centre won’t open until March 11. No date has yet been set for the pool and rock climbing wall.
“It won’t be too late after that,” said Sutherland about the pool’s opening.
It was rumoured a leak in the pool caused delays to that portion of the centre, however, that isn’t the case, said general manager Jim Lambert.
“There actually has been no water in the pool,” he said, also adding there is no real hold up to the pool.
“We had identified early in the project that we’d have a staggered opening, so we were focusing on ‘A’ before turning our focus to ‘B.’”
Having two pools in the aquatic centre, they will both have different water temperatures. The lap pool will see temperatures between 80 and 81 F, while the leisure pool will be between 82 and 84.
With the arena opening on March 2, residents of the community can start purchasing memberships on March 4.
Nevin Jackson, operations board chairman, couldn’t be happier the opening day is soon to arrive.
“It should be an amazing and exciting day and we’re hoping everyone from the community comes out to help celebrate it,” Jackson said.
“Of the people that have already been in the centre, most of them are saying that it is at the top of its kind for the province.”
Jackson noted the community’s patience when it came to the delays in the centre, however, he said they were in the hands of the construction crews.
“We wanted to make sure that when the centre opens, it opens with few discrepancies,” he said.
rtetanish@trurodaily.com
Pricing information for the Rath Eastlink Community Centre (one year duration):
Aquatic centre:
- Adult: $399
- Senior (60+) and student/youth: $349
- Family of four: $799
- Family add-on: $199
Fitness centre (walking track included):
- Adult: $579
- Senior and student/youth: $529
Walking track:
- Adult: $199
- Senior and student/youth: $149
- Family of four: $399
Full membership:
- Adult: $749
- Senior and student/youth: $699
- Family of four: $1,299
- Family add-on: $329
*1 and 3 month memberships are available; an hour of ice rental is set at $195
For more information on memberships, such as what is included in the memberships, call 893-2224, or email membership@ratheastlinkcc.ca.
a few reasons that more buildings may go empty are 1) a higher tax rate to pay for this 2) tax dollars being used to force private sector providers of the same thing (fitness centres etc) out of business because they cant compete on an uneven playing field