MC Joe Smith promised the cake offered during Friday’s grand opening celebrations for the Comox Community Centre renovations was low-calorie.
But, if people did eat too much, at least they could try out the new exercise equipment in the new fitness studio, he pointed out.
The community celebrated the completion of the $2.85-million renovation project at the Comox Community Centre on Friday with an open house, official ribbon cutting and music by the Rachel Fuller Trio.
The Centennial Wing was replaced with a new 12,600-square-foot multi-purpose recreation centre.
Improvements include a much larger fitness studio boasting more than 60 new fitness machines
and comprehensive free weights station, a 3,000-square-foot multi-purpose room, a new spin class studio and much more.
Environmentally responsible improvements were a big part of this $2.85-million dollar project, including the installation of the $850,000 geo-thermal heating system, which was funded through the Federal Gas Tax. Other green features include low-flow water fixtures, energy-efficient windows and lighting upgrades.
Smith MCed the grand opening event, and he presented Comox Mayor Paul Ives with a print of his painting of the old Centennial Wing called Remember When.
Smith sat on the Comox Recreation Commission board a number of years ago when the commission began to dream of having a facility like this, he told the crowd.
“This is something that is very special for the community,” he said. “This is a beautiful building inside and out.”
The federal government contributed $950,000 through Recreation Infrastructure Canada as stimulus spending as part of the Economic Action Plan.
“This is a demonstration of what can occur when we get various partnerships going with provinces, with communities,” said Vancouver Island North MP John Duncan. “We can get so much more done than we could get done individually.”
The Town of Comox contributed an additional $1.9 million to the removal of the Centennial Wing of the 1967 Centennial Building and the building of its replacement.
Ives thanked many people for their roles in the expansion.
He thanked the citizens who supported the referendum in the past election and the Community Centre staff and Parks staff, and he expressed gratitude to the expansion committee, which had to work with a very tight timeframe.
Ives also thanked Recreation Commission members past and present.
“They’ve held a forward-looking vision of building a better Comox,” he said.
Pat Lewis, chair of the Comox Recreation Commission, noted the Recreation Commission has been one of many factors that have worked together to make this expansion a reality.
He acknowledged Dave Durrant, who had the vision in 1986 to build the old Centennial Wing, and noted how helpful past Recreation Commission chairs and Town of Comox staff, particularly Richard Kanigan, were.
“I think this is appropriate this is called a Community Centre because it takes a community to build it, not just use it,” he said.
The new building has been received very well, according to recreation manager Jim Stevenson.
“So far, we’ve had nothing but positive comments,” he said. “I would say it’s been received better than my expectations … it’s been nothing but people enjoying it. Certainly, the increased number of people enjoying the facility has shown people’s approval.”
With this renovation, the Comox Community Centre is able to offer a lot more, explained Stevenson.
Some of the programs that were being offered in schools have moved back to the Comox Community Centre, and the new multi-purpose hall offers a lot of potential, he noted.
“It certainly opens our programming potential in the daytime and in children’s programming,” he said.
With the multi-purpose hall, the Comox Community Centre is also looking at providing more community space for weddings, socials and events.
“We haven’t been able to offer that,” said Stevenson, noting a wedding has already been booked. “It’s a nice, comfortable space. We think we’ll see much greater use in those types of community functions.”
Stevenson feels there was a need for the expansion, and the interest in the new building has proven it.
“By seeing the reaction people have and the increase in size and more people wanting the different spaces, including our instructors, I think it’s very evident there was a demand and a latent demand for space of that nature,” he said.
writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com
