THUNDER BAY – The aging Fort William Gardens is set for a $1.1 million facelift, with provincial and federal funding programs coming through with nearly 80 per cent of the costs.
The upgrades, which include new ice deck flooring and a video scoreboard, will position the Gardens and adjacent Fort William Curling Club to host future events, including the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2022.
That national event was initially set to be hosted in the city-owned facility in 2021, before COVID-19 forced a change of plans to 2022.
The city was successful in securing grants of over $550,000 from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC)’s Strategic Economic Infrastructure Fund, and $300,000 from FedNor.
That will leave the city to pick up the remainder of just over $250,000, or around 22 per cent of project costs. That amount has already been allocated in 2019 and 2020 capital budgets.
Planned improvements include new ice deck flooring, a video scoreboard and digital screens, a rigging system to suspend speakers, lighting, and cameras from the ceiling, electrical system and ice plant improvements, and upgrades to curling club washrooms.
The city had announced in April that it was approved to proceed to stage two in those grant applications.
In a report to city council received Monday, administration announced the FedNor grant had been officially approved, while an official announcement on the NOHFC funding was “anticipated in the near future.”
In the event the city’s NOHFC application was rejected, the scope of work would be adjusted accordingly, city staff said.
Some of the work has already begun, and staff believed the city had “ample time” to complete it before the 2022 Scotties.
