Project size grows to meet future community demand

A new ice sports facility proposed in Spokane Valley would include complementary commercial development to help offset operations costs.

| Garco Construction Inc.

Preliminary development plans for an indoor youth ice sports arena in the city of Spokane Valley are underway.

Currently, the project is in the final phase of lease negotiations to secure an 11-acre city-owned property near the Spokane Valley Mall, at 2100 N. Sullivan Road, says Shelly O'Quinn, CEO at Innovia Foundation.

The negotiated lease is expected to be presented to the Spokane Valley City Council for a vote by the end of March, she adds. Following the completion of lease negotiations, City Council will need to approve the 99-year reduced-rate lease and necessary infrastructure improvements for the site.

Innovia Foundation is helping to facilitate the donor-initiated proposal calling for the development of a new indoor arena to increase capacity for youth ice sports in the Inland Northwest, where community members have long expressed a need for additional practice and game space, says O'Quinn.

As envisioned, the project, which doesn't have an official name yet, will have two ice sheets where multiple games, practices, or tournaments can occur simultaneously. The primary purpose is to accommodate youth sports, but the facility also will serve as a practice location for the Spokane Chiefs hockey team.

As previously reported in the Journal, initial plans called for a 65,000-square-foot indoor sports arena, but the project has grown in scale to about 73,000 square feet to ensure it can meet the long-term needs of the community, O'Quinn says. Plans for the property also include lodging and commercial space to cover the facility's operational costs.

Spokane-based Garco Construction Inc. has been selected as the contractor for the design and build of the proposed ice arena, which is valued at about $44 million.

Next steps in the development process include awaiting the outcome of a $400,000 legislative ask for state capital investment, which is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, she says. If approvals proceed as planned, construction could begin this spring, with a projected one-year timeline for completion.

"There has been this outpouring of support from the different clubs and associations and groups that are truly impacted ... by the lack of availability," O'Quinn says. "Obviously with women's and men's hockey outcomes — gold medals at the Olympics — I think that's going to create an even greater demand."

—Erica Bullock