MEDICINE HAT, AB — More than a year after it closed, the Medicine Hat Arena still remains standing.
The Medicine Hat Arena closed to the public in July 2017.
Future plans for the site include developing the land for residential use, which would require the arena to be demolished. This was a plan council affirmed their support towards.
“That process led to them directing us to bring back a budget amendment that would pay for the deMolition and subdivision of the site to create a saleable parcel, as well as extending some services like the roadway of Ash Avenue through the site, to make sure that we have a parcel that is in fact saleable to the development community,” said Grant MacKay, manager of land and business support with the city.
While working on the plan this summer, MacKay says the land and business support department found the costs for demolition are higher than they originally reported to council. Costs have not been released, as the matter has yet to return to committee.
He adds land and business support is speaking with developers that have expressed interest in the site, and looking for ways to possible reduce costs.
MacKay adds it takes time to have the correct plan in place.
“It’s not like selling a house, I can tell you that,” he said. “There’s a lot of issues with respect to a structure like that that was purpose built essentially for a recreational or event purpose,” he said. “The site that it’s on has a number of issues, so we’ve had to work through that. Council and senior administration would like to be very conscious of the dollars that are going to go into redeveloping that site, and making sure that those investment decisions are appropriate for the community, and it’s taking some time.”
MacKay says they hope to have a plan before council before the year is over.
