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Saint John Field House On Track For Fall Opening

Saint John, NB, Canada / Country 94
Aug 22, 2019 | 6:53 AM


Saint John Field House On Track For Fall Opening

The Field House is set to open in the coming months.

The Saint John Field House is set to open the doors on its sport facilities in the coming months.

The one of a kind YMCA sports facility will house a track, two indoor fields, fitness rooms, and child care programs.

Shilo Boucher, President and CEO of the Greater Saint John Y says current members will be able to access the new facility at no cost.

‘We feel that it’s just going to grow the amount of people that we’re reaching and also with the field, which is brand new for our Y and actually brand new for Y’s across the country so it’s cool that our Y in Saint John gets the chance to really show how this might work. It’s going to expand who we might be able to reach,” she said.

She says the added childcare facilities will also allow them to expand youth programming in the city with 72 new spots for childcare and after school.

Boucher explains the Y has an operating agreement with the Field House, so while they don’t own the building, they will be supplying the workers and volunteers, developing the programming, and running the facility.

Bill MacMackin, CEO and President of the Field House Inc., the owners of the building, says the facility exceeds his expectations, and he’s excited to show it off.

“It’s better than what we had in mind from those initial meetings. We came to it very much from the point of view that we knew there was a demand for turf and an opportunity, but this is bigger. It’s a national caliber facility,” he said.

MacMackin says the facility cost around $27 million to build, with funding from all levels of government, and help from the community. He says it will have an operating cost of between $1 and 1.5 million annually.

He also says naming rights for the building are still up for grabs, and an official name will likely be released in the coming months.

Mike Daigle, Vice President of Recreation with the regional Y, says the facility will allow a number of sports groups to extend their seasons.

“It is really a game changer for a lot of sport groups. Summer sports are now shifting to operating programs in the winter. The sky’s the limit and we’re really trying to see what opportunities there are and take advantage. This is really great for our community,” he said.

It will play host to a variety of field-sports, such as soccer, rugby and ultimate Frisbee, as well as some atypical sports, such as cricket and martial arts.

There will also be space for portable nets, allowing for badminton and pickle-ball.

Daigle says right now, around 80 to 90 per cent of prime time at the sports track has already been booked.

He says having a place for sport groups to train in the off-season and winter months will help them become more competitive as well.

MacMackin says the facility already has a number of tournaments scheduled for the winter months, and hope to have some larger-scale national events in the years to come.

“We have already secured the U18 and U16 age class indoor (soccer) championships,” he said.

MacMackin explains they still need $500,000 to wrap up the project, which is being raised through the community.

The childcare and lobby areas will be open to the public on September 3rd, just in time for the start of the school year.

The remainder of the facility (multi-purpose rooms, fitness room, community centre, newcomer centre) will open on September 16th, and the track and fields will open in mid-October.

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