Lease agreements are in the books for the new Cenovus Energy Hub.
The new arena, which is slated to open in September, will see user groups paying to lease rental space from the city.
Read more: User groups prepare for life at new arena
Following a council motion, the city will enter into lease agreements with the Lloydminster Junior A Bobcats, the Lloydminster Junior B Bandits, the Lakeland College Rustlers and the Lloydminster Minor Hockey Association.
At the Centennial Civic Centre, user groups don’t pay for the space they use.
“Currently, the user groups do not pay rent for private dressing rooms in the city,” said Joel Turcotte, director of recreation and cultural services for the City of Lloydminster.
“To recover some of the costs of the new facility, user groups will now be required to pay a rental fee for lease space within the facility.”
The city looked to other municipalities to determine their lease rates.
“The lease rate was determined by comparing other municipalities,” said Turcotte.
User groups were offered leases of nine or 12 months.
“Lloydminster Junior B Bandits were the only user group that chose the nine-month option,” he said. “They definitely don’t use that space in the summer.”
While the Bandits may not use the space over the summer, it does offer the city some flexibility on what they’ll do with the dressing room.
“For the city, it’s a bit of a benefit if there’s a lacrosse team that comes that wants a dressing room. It provides us with a space we can rent them,” said Turcotte.
The city is able to use the space, even if the teams are in it.
“There is a clause in each agreement that allows the city the use of leased dressing rooms for special events,” said Turcotte.
Construction on the new arena continues and Coun. Jim Taylor asked if teams are already working on their own designs for the dressing rooms.
“They’re working on design and concept and getting it quoted out, but none have started to do work on the project, yet,” said Turcotte. “All those plans have to be approved by our project team; we’re in the process of getting some of those plans.”
The city provides a basic fit out to all the dressing rooms, which includes flooring, hooks and a stick rack. Additional upgrades to leased spaces require approval by the city and are the financial responsibility of the user group. Internet access will also be provided by the city.
Read more: Cenovus Energy Hub set to open in September
