Officials with the downtown arena project released new images showing part of the new arena, called the Winter Garden.
The Winter Garden will bridge 104 Avenue from a pedestrian plaza just south of the arena.
According to Bob Black, of the Edmonton Arena Corporation, the majority of arena patrons will use the Winter Garden pedway to enter the arena.
“Our pedestrian analysis suggests that somewhere in the order of 70 to 75 percent of patrons for Rogers Place will enter through the Winter Garden,” Black said.
The covered pedway will be 40 metres long and 40 metres wide, and 25 metres high – and it’s hoped the space won’t just be used for tailgate parties surrounding hockey games.
Officials said there will be room for arts, music and cultural events as well, and it will be open to the public even when the arena is closed.
“When other arenas see the Winter Garden, they will look with envious eyes at this facility,” Black said. “Because it really is a great piece of architecture, that will have all kinds of wonderful programming capacity.”
Mike Staines is overseeing the work site with PCL, the company has built nearly half a dozen arenas in recent years, but none like Edmonton’s.
“We’ve done a number of arenas, but we haven’t had a programmable space like this attached to the side of the buildings,” Staines said. “If you look at the last four or five buildings we’ve done, they’re standalone buildings.”
As for the rest of the project, officials said the arena is on time, and on budget.
With files from David Ewasuk
