The Vision of the Central Elementary School Revitalisation project in Red Deer was addressed this morning at a press conference put on by the City.

Renovations of the school are ongoing until the summer of 2018, and will be used as the new site for the City’s Culture Services department.

But before that happens, the space on the west side of the building will be used as the Canada Games Celebration Plaza for the 2019 Canada Winter Games.

Board Chair of the Games Lyn Radford explains.

“It’s somewhere the athletes can come down and maybe receive their medals or just enjoy seeing some of the local lure that’s going to happen here. It’s a place for the spectators to come and have some place to gather in the evenings.”

“We’ll be hosting concerts every evening that will happen with both local and national names.”

The cost of the plaza is around $1 million and will accomodate 5,000-10,000 people.

Mayor Tara Veer said the long term vision is to create a vibrant addition piece to the downtown and said it wouldn’t be possible without great partnership.

“The partnership with the Canada Winter Games Host Society and the Red Deer Public School Board have given the once in a lifetime opportunity to preserve the much-loved heritage building in Red Deer’s downtown core.”

“Our community has an expectation that we would save this heritage resource, but because of the infrastructure upgrades that were required for it, it would have been cost prohibited.”

Renovations for the school cost around $7 million.

After the games, the same space will be used to as an entertainment venue, hosting concerts and other types of events.