With the projected finish line roughly three months away, the pace of construction on Spectra Place is picking up steam.
At Monday's regular meeting of city council, Spectra Place chairman, Councillor Roy Ludwig said he and city manager Jim Puffalt recently had the opportunity to tour the facility and came away impressed with the amount of work that has been completed since their last tour in October.
"We were getting a little frustrated because it didn't appear that things were going as fast as we would like them to be," said Ludwig. "Now that the building is enclosed and the roof (on the lobby) is finished, they are really going to town. It's coming very nicely."
Ludwig said the completion of the lobby structure and roof was a particularly big step as rains throughout the spring and summer had prevented construction crews from working in that area, pushing the arena's opening date back a few weeks.
"With the water problems we had all summer, it was a nightmare even getting in and out of the building."
Outside of the lobby, Ludwig said they also witnessed significant progress on the private box level and the ground floor where the ice slab will be located.
"They are getting ready for the slab which they will be pouring on the 17th. They are running all of the heating and cooling lines for the slab, it is actually very interesting. There is a lot more electrical conduit and wiring being put in. The frames for the boxes are in place so that is very exciting."
Ludwig admitted one area that has been a concern for the Spectra Place committee is the pace of work on the expansion of the weight room in the Souris Valley Aquatic and Leisure Centre.
It was initially expected the new portion of the weight room would be ready in November. That was later pushed back to December and has now been delayed until February 1. Ludwig blamed the delay on a miscommunication between the City and their contractor Graham Construction.
"We were a little bit lax in communicating to Graham how important it was to get that project finished," he said. "I don't think they realized the impact the (weight room) has on our community and how many people we have involved with that. Once we got that through, they definitely picked up and hopefully by the beginning of February it will be ready.
"There were a lot of issues with the arts council room so we did have our attention directed somewhat to that. Other areas of the building, there have been many other issues that we deal with on a daily basis so unfortunately our attention was maybe diverted off the weight room but it's definitely getting the attention now that it deserves."
Ludwig said the projected opening of the arena is still set for late February/early March and he is confident they will be able to hit that mark.
"We are excited because now the changes are happening, it seems, quite quickly and Graham feels quite comfortable that the new deadline that we set a few months ago, which is the end of February, can be accomplished so hopefully that is the case."
