Ground breaks on Veiner Centre rebuild
Calling it “breaking ground on a new beginning” for seniors services in Medicine Hat, council members, builders and local seniors ceremoniously turned the sod on Veiner Centre reconstruction Tuesday afternoon.
The 40-year-old centre was badly damaged during the flood of 2013, and replacing it has seen heated debate over location, scope, cost, timelines and even public safety.
This week however, all sides seemed enthused that construction will begin this month on an expanded centre that will incorporate parts of the old building and also see the nearby Strathcona Centre act as a dual centre.
Coun. Julie Friesen chairs the public services committee, which oversaw the project, and she says it wasn’t a traditional sod turning.
“It’s breaking ground on a new beginning; a newly built and renovated new facility that we believe will meet the needs of seniors for 50 years,” she told an assembled crowd of 50 at the site.
“It’s a new home away from home for all the folks who used it and all the folks that will use it.”
A chorus line of dignitaries with shovels in hand turned sod Tuesday, including city council members, senior administrators, architect Christopher Babitz, whose firm FWBA designed the new centre, Graham Construction manager Zack McLeod, and city project manager Scott Woodside.
Also included in the ceremony emceed by Coun. Les Pearson were LaVerne Noble and Gordon Nott, two public members of planning groups, while other committee members looked on from the lawn.
“It’s been a journey and this will be the new home for seniors,” Nott told the News. “We’re onward and upward. We’ll have a wonderful centre that will be the envy of a lot of other communities.”
Construction is set to get underway later this month with site work, and the centre will reopen in the summer of 2018.
The $9.67-million construction contract, won by Graham Construction, will see about 13,000 square-feet of mainfloor space remediated, then another 5,600 square feet added to the north and south, while the basement will be closed.
The entire $11.6-million budget was approved in February 2016.
Flood waters swamped the building and Lions Park in June 2013, and soon after calls came to rebuild and relocate it away from the river valley.
An original plan for a completely new centre elsewhere was shelved by council when the estimated budget arrived at $19 million.
So too was the second location, on city-owned land at the corner of College Avenue and Primrose Drive.
In the interim, the spot on Birch Avenue in Strathcona Island Park, was offered at different times to commercial developers and arts groups that were leasing space at the Cultural Centre.
In the end, the Veiner Centre was repurposed for its original purpose.
Nott said while he still believes Primrose and College would have been a viable option, “that’s water under the bridge.”
Mayor Ted Clugston said Tuesday that the spot, on land once owned by longtime mayor Harry Veiner, was the right one for all the same reasons it was a good fit in 1970s.
“It’s beauty and walkability,” said Clugston.
Friesen said the project has been rewarding but also challenging, and filled with emotion.
“I think we see so many people here because it reflects all the joy and all the angst that went along with planning,” she said.
“The ‘home away from home’ comment stands; when your home is breached, you don’t feel safe anymore.”
Clugston said the city’s berm program has given people certainty.
“This council keeps its promises,” said Clugston. “We promised to build a berm, and many people didn’t think we’d deliver, but it’s right there behind us. We promised to build a seniors’ centre this term, and we’re starting it today.”
Graham Construction is also engaged right now in the modernization of Medicine Hat High School, which involves building onto a major renovation project.
Graham manager Zack McLeod said the projects are going to impress.
“The whole intent of the building is really gathering and collaborative, open airy spaces, multi-purpose rooms and multi-use. It will be very functional with nice finishes and nice designs,” he said. “The architects have done a great job.” Woodside agreed. “It will knock your socks off,” he said.