For years the mantra from proponents of the new multipurpose facility project in North Battleford has been to "raise the roof."
By the end of 2011 those same supporters literally saw that come to fruition as completion of the Credit Union CUPlex's four components is clearly in sight.
It was a year of progress for the entire CUPlex project, but the beginning of the year saw city council get some major decisions out of the way to complete the project.
Tenders for the theatre and the aquatic centre had already been awarded to APM and to Jen-Col, respectively, and it was now up to the City to award the tender for the "design-build" of the curling rink and the field house.
The tender was awarded to Scott Builders for both components, in the amount of $17,709,949, at a special meeting of council in February.
However, it did not come without some contention: councillors Grace Lang and Trent Houk voiced their concerns about the city assuming $24 million in debt to complete the project. Houk also had issues with the proposed hike in the Recreation Culture Capital Facilities levy from $100 to $175.
But the rest of council had no problem moving forward with the remaining two components.
There were some hiccups with the construction early in the year. In March, Parks and Recreation head Keith Anderson reported one of the companies sub-contracted to erect the steel at the theatre had run into financial difficulties, which meant the theatre was running behind schedule. That, however, was eventually sorted out.
The good news was that the steel had arrived and was going up for the aquatics centre component.
Construction began for the final two components, the curling rink and field house, by the spring. Scott Builders was on site April 18.
While construction activity continued, fundraising activities to meet a $10 million target continued, though not as quickly as the organizers would have liked.
The Raise the Roof committee had hoped to meet their goal and had planned to wrap up the campaign with a celebration around the time of the one-year anniversary of the launch of their campaign in June.
But their self-imposed June 30 deadline came and went with the committee short of their goal by about $1.2 million. So the fundraising efforts continued.
One of the unique fundraisers to take place was a busking event in downtown North Battleford, organized by Steven Cormons. Street acts performed to raise money for the Dekker Centre for the Performing Arts. That raised about $349.
Some of the funds raised from a celebrity sportsman fundraiser in the Battlefords featuring Boston Bruins legends Wayne Cashman and Gerry Cheevers also went to the CUPlex.
The BATC Community Development Corporation came through in a big way with a $200,000 donation in August.
Around this same time, city officials were busy negotiating the terms with the banks for the borrowing of $24 million, with finance director Byron Tumbach reporting to council that the negotiated terms with the Bank of Montreal had come back better than anticipated with a more favourable interest rate.
The debt bylaw for the CUPlex passed in September.
By September, work on all four components of the CUPlex was well under way. According to Anderson's written report to council dated Sept. 6, $9.1 million in work has been done to date on the theatre component, and $8.8 million on the aquatic centre. The curling rink had seen $2.3 million estimated to date while the field house had seen $2.7 million invoiced. Roofing installation was complete on the theatre and vertical siding installation was 90 per cent completed, with the building's exterior expected to be completed by the end of September and paving complete by mid-September.
Work continues to go well on the curling rink and field house, with Anderson telling council the foundation walls for the field house were "100 per cent complete." In mid-summer Anderson also told council roofing had started on the curling rink, but that work had to stop briefly because the temperature was just too hot.
It got up to 52 C on the roof on what was a particularly hot day.
Council continued to prepare for the arrival of the Dekker Centre for the Performing Arts by agreeing to set up an arms-length board for its operation. Also on their agenda was getting the process started on finding a general manager.
The City also got a good idea what the operating deficit would be at the new aquatics centre. While revenues were expected to be well above what they are for the existing Kinsmen Aquatic Centre, the annual projected net loss was still expected to be $625,154. Anderson told council there seemed to be no way to avoid running at a deficit.
By October, construction work was well underway on field house and curling rink components, with the steel going up on the field house at that time.
In preparation for the arrival of the new curling rink it was announced the Granite Curling Club and Battleford Curling Club would merge into a single entity.
Fundraising efforts for the Credit Union CUPlex continued in November with an online auction hosted at the Kramer Auction website. Several items were up for bid including perhaps the most intriguing one: a lunch with Brett Wilson at his corporate boardroom. The auction wrapped up Nov. 9 and the fundraising committee reported more than $60,000 raised for the CUPlex.
By the end of 2011 the CUPlex fundraising committee was just $700,000 shy of their $10 million target.
At the close of 2011 the completion of the CUPlex components was clearly in sight. Substantial completion of the threatre had to be pushed back into the New Year, but a spring opening is clearly in sight. Substantial completion for the aquatic centre was still slated for March 27, May 31for the curling rink and the field house in July 2012.
