Pincourt sets sights on new arena near abandoned project
The town of Pincourt is moving on from a plagued sports complex project launched 15 years ago and is looking to start all over with sights set on a new two-rink arena just across the street.
The change comes after the Commission scolaire des TroisLac voted in favour of returning a portion of unused land next to École secondaire du Chêne-Bleu to the town in February 2018. The land donation comes with the caveat that it must be used for a new arena, Mayor Yvan Cardinal said.
The new land on the west side of Pincourt Blvd. near Fifth Ave. would allow the town to build a larger arena than the one originally slated for the east side of the boulevard, said Cardinal.
Construction had first begun on the sports complex in 2003 but a litany of setbacks, including legal battles, left the partially finished building sitting empty for years.
The long-standing plan for the building had been to construct a sports complex with facilities for tennis and soccer in addition to an arena, Cardinal said. The new plan focuses rather on the construction of an arena with two rinks instead of one. “The need is there,” Cardinal said. The town’s vision is to serve both Pincourt and Île-Perrot’s populations and to complete the project “as quickly as possible.”
Cardinal explained that it was the town that had initiated conversations with the school board about acquiring the piece of land. Pincourt had originally donated the land to the school board for the construction of École secondaire du Chêne-Bleu, prior to its inauguration in 2003.
Though the school board voted in favour, it must still wait on authorization from the province’s Ministry of Education before the land transfer can be finalized, Sébastien Bédard, director of communications for the Commission scolaire des Trois-Lacs, wrote in an email to the Gazette.
The town first began considering the empty field next to the school as an option for the arena when Groupe Thibault, the abandoned building’s previous owner, terminated their plans to finish the sports complex in December 2017, Cardinal said.
Though hesitant to provide a dollar figure, Cardinal said estimates for the new arena could land around the $10-million mark.
“If it has two rinks, it will have a fairly high cost,” he said.
While the future of the abandoned lot is still up the air, “it’s certain that the building will have to be demolished,” said the mayor.