City opens renovated Chelmsford Arena

The City of Greater Sudbury got to unveil the new and improved Chelmsford Arena Saturday after more than a year of renovations to the 46-year-old building.

Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier said he could barely recognize the building where he got his first job, when it opened in 1969.

At the time, Montpellier helped maintain the ice surface before the arena had gotten an ice resurfacer.

“I can't believe how it's changed,” he said. “Staff went the extra mile.”

The renovations were the first in the building's lifetime, and Montpellier said they were very much needed.

Before it closed, part of the floor collapsed just outside the ice surface, due to years of permafrost.

But before the renovations could begin, the city's contractor gutted the building's interior.

“I walked in here in June and the whole place looked like a bomb went off,” Réal Carré, the city's director of leisure services. “It was absolutely gutted.”

Over the course of more than a year the building got a new rink floor, rink glass, bleachers, two viewing galleries, and two additional dressing rooms.

Earlier this year Carré asked city council for additional funding to also update the building's lobby area.

With the additional funding, the renovation project had a budget of around $2.6 million.

Carré said thanks in part to the arena staff, who helped complete the new dressing rooms, the project was finished right on time and on budget.

He said they were fortunate they didn't discover any major issues with the old building that could have delayed construction and increased costs.

To celebrate the new and improved arena, the city hosted a public skate after the unveiling ceremony.

“There are a lot of sentimental feelings today,” Carré said. “You know you've given this building another life.”