New curling centre should be ready for 2009-10 season

Vacating the downtown site of the Red Deer Curling Centre — formerly the Red Deer Curling Club — will undoubtedly be painful for some long-time members. But time marches on and the blooming popularity of the sport will wait for no one.

If everything goes as planned, Red Deer Curling Centre members will be tossing rocks during the 2009-10 season in a new multi-use facility located on the provincially owned Michener Centre grounds.

The 4,500 square-foot building will house 10 sheets of curling ice and a clubhouse/lounge, as well as a hall that will accommodate up to four additional sports clubs.

“It has taken longer than originally planned, with the (acquisition of) land being the biggest holdup,” said Red Deer Curling Centre building committee chair Reg Radford. He has been in contact with the City of Red Deer and the provincial government for several years regarding the construction of a new building.

Radford said the committee looked at various sites, including some in the County of Red Deer.

“Most of the sites were in town and pretty well all of them would have worked for us. It would have been tough getting services at the out-of-town spots,” said Radford.

“In addition, 75 per cent of our curlers live in the city, so it was extra important that we stay in Red Deer.”

It’s expected that the new facility will cost at least $6 million, not including the tab for the land.

The Red Deer Tennis Club has agreed to buy the existing Red Deer Curling Centre building for $1 million.

“Even though the front end of the building (which was constructed in 1996) is probably worth $1.5 million, we’re a sports group and we’re helping out another group,” said Radford.

“We agreed to sell for that amount.”

With sale proceeds from the existing structure and the money raised via a building fund established in 2002, the Curling Centre group expects to direct roughly $2 million towards the price of the new facility, with loans and provincial grants expected to take care of the rest.

A new building will bring an assortment of major events to Red Deer, Radford said.

“It’s really exciting when you look at all of the things we’ll be able to do,” he said. “We can host a lot of provincial playdowns and World Curling Tour events.

A lot of the big-name curlers won’t come and play here now, he said, because it’s too hard to control the temperature of the ice surface.

“We’ll have a brand new ice plant with climate control. Curling ice is very sensitive to air temperature. The insulation factors and the humidity and temperature controls inside the building will be first class.”

The new Red Deer Curling Centre will have the capacity to expand to 16 sheets of ice.

“That was another reason for moving. We couldn’t have added more than two additional sheets in our existing location,” said Radford.

The building committee chairman said the popularity of curling took a hit in the 1980s, but has rebounded nicely in recent years.

The Red Deer Curling Centre now has 1,400 members.

“Curling is definitely on the way back. We have close to 200 in our junior program and the sport has really taken off worldwide,” said Radford.

“It’s getting more and more television exposure, with the Canadian Curling Association signing all sorts of TV deals.

“We have to go bigger and better and some of the communities around Red Deer have to start building new rinks. We think this is just the start of a real curling explosion in Central Alberta.”

When contacted late last month, Greg Scott, the City of Red Deer Recreation, Parks and Culture Department manager, said details were still being ironed out.

“The Curling Centre people have been in communication with the city and vice-versa for a number of years looking for a proper location (for a new facility),” he said.

“We’ve sort of focused in on some of the Michener lands area, but there’s still a lot of work to be done with the province.

“We’re kind of in the throes of that at this particular time. We want to put our best foot forward with the province, but everything is looking good.”

Scott wouldn’t put a timeline on the completion of the land deal, the potential start of construction or who is paying for what.

“That’s difficult when you’re dealing with two different levels of government as well as getting everyone aligned properly.

“It takes time,” he said.

Contact Greg Meachem at sports@reddeeradvocate.com