The grand opening of the Southeast Event Centre in Steinbach Thursday has been decades in the making.
The downtown location of the 112,000-square-foot cultural and recreational hub was made possible after the city bought the land from Olympic gold-medal-winning hockey coach Ralph Krueger’s family.
The city of Steinbach started buying up land downtown in the 1990s in an effort to create more public spaces in the centre of the city. Successive councils continued that plan.
“My siblings and I bought into that ambitious vision, and when we were ready to sell, it went directly to the city. The property never hit the open market,” Krueger told the crowd gathered to celebrate the new Steinbach landmark.
Olympic gold medal-winning hockey coach turned soccer coach Ralph Krueger talks about how his Steinbach family sold the land he grew up on to the city for a cultural and recreational hub, which became the Southeast Event Centre. (Chris Gareau/CBC)
The $75-million event centre on Elmdale Street includes a 2,400-seat arena that first opened March 14 with a Manitoba Junior Hockey League game featuring the Steinbach Pistons.
Work has continued on the centre, with its 2,400-seat arena that can expand to 4,000 seats. It also holds a hardwood court, 500-seat multi-use gym, French restaurant, historic display and indoor playground.
It is connected to the TG Smith Arena next door, a curling rink and a movie theatre. An outdoor rink on the property also hosts beach volleyball tournaments in the summer.
The grand opening ribbon cutting at the Southeast Event Centre in Steinbach included, from left, Steinbach Coun. Susan Penner, SEC president Grant Lazaruk, Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen, Manitoba Lt.-Gov. Anita Neville, Steinbach Mayor Earl Funk, Manitoba Minister of Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport Nellie Kennedy, Provencher MP Ted Falk, Olympic gold medallist Ralph Krueger and Steinbach Coun. Damian Penner. (Chris Gareau/CBC)
Steinbach Mayor Earl Funk spoke at the launch about past municipal leaders who passed on their long-term plan to buy downtown properties and make public spaces.
“What was neat about this is it was adopted by successive councils,” Funk said.
“It’s incredible what we were able to build downtown.”
A crowd packs the Southeast Event Centre for its grand opening Aug. 21. (Chris Gareau/CBC)
Krueger’s late parents moved from Germany and lived on their downtown property for 50 years.
Krueger grew up not only playing hockey in Steinbach — he also participated in poetry competitions, he said.
“I grew up in a town where I could feel the mix of culture and sports — a really healthy mix,” said Krueger, who now spends his time coaching soccer in Switzerland after a hockey career that included coaching in the NHL and helping the 2014 men’s Olympic team win gold.
Krueger came back to Steinbach every summer after leaving for Europe to play hockey at 19. His father Dr. Karl Krueger’s old office — a little brown building that is now a tax service business — is the only structure besides the recreation complex left on the block.
Krueger sees the centre as a place that will foster the values he grew up with.
“I mentioned some principles today about being a team player, sacrificing your ego, being part of a community in a positive way,” said Krueger, who started conversations to sell the property to the city 19 years ago.
Southeast Event Centre president Grant Lazaruk speaks at its grand opening in Steinbach Aug. 21. (Chris Gareau/CBC)
A third of the funding for the $75-million event centre came from private donations. The city chipped in $30 million, with the provincial and federal governments providing $20 million.
Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen told the crowd it’s that type of drive that will turn future ideas like the event centre into reality.
“So when you walk through here today and you’re looking around, don’t think of this as a culmination of something, the completion of something. This is just another part of the journey of Steinbach,” Goertzen told the crowd, which included municipal leaders from throughout the region.
People check out the heritage display near the entrance of the Southeast Event Centre on Thursday. (Chris Gareau/CBC)
Everything is now open to the public, except for the playground that is expected to be open in the coming weeks.
The Southeast Events Group, a community not-for-profit organization, runs the centre, and the City of Steinbach owns it.
Its board of directors is headed by president Grant Lazaruk, the former CEO of pork production company HyLife, headquartered in Steinbach.
Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen at the grand opening for the Southeast Event Centre said this is just part of the continuing journey of growth in Steinbach. (Chris Gareau/CBC)
Steinbach celebrates opening of arena decades in the making
Steinbach has a new state-of-the-art facility that will serve as a hockey arena, as well as an event and recreation centre for the rapidly growing southeastern Manitoba city. The Southeast Event Centre, which had its grand opening on Thursday, has been in the works for more than 30 years.
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