City of Thunder Bay breaks ground on indoor turf facility

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 27, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

It's been a agelong clip coming, but Thunder Bay's caller multi-use indoor turf sports installation is officially nether construction.

An authoritative groundbreaking ceremonial was held for the installation connected Thursday morning. When complete, it volition beryllium diagnostic a full-sized artificial turf field — which tin beryllium divided into 4 smaller sections — which tin beryllium utilized for sports similar soccer, football, baseball, cricket and lacrosse.

The building, which is being constructed adjacent to the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium and Canada Games Complex, volition besides see seating for 500 spectators, arsenic good arsenic dressing rooms, concessions and gathering rooms.

"You truly ne'er cognize however it tin beryllium derailed," said Michael Veneziale, president of Soccer Northwest and a long-time advocator for the caller facility. "We've had times successful the past wherever we thought we were astatine the decorativeness enactment and it didn't happen."

"Today, we're here," helium said. "We're yet here. And with this, don't get maine wrong, I americium very, precise blessed to spot each of this. But the time that I deliberation I'm going to beryllium the astir elated is the archetypal time this happening opens and we get to spot the younker playing their sports successful beforehand of their families."

"That's going to beryllium a large day."

That time volition beryllium successful autumn 2026, said Kelvin Jankowski, the city's manager of superior installation construction.

"The enactment connected the tract close present is the removal of the existing shot diamond," helium said. "They've removed the backstop and the fencing astir the outside, and present they're rescuing the basal and they're going to reuse the basal worldly astatine different shot and shot fields successful the city."

"They're they're moving to get going connected factual piles sometime successful July and past they volition proceed connected with the enactment from there."

The installation is being built astatine a outgo of conscionable implicit $32.6 million, with operation being handled by Finn Way General Contractors.

Tony Colistro, enforcement manager of the Thunder Bay Chill, said helium was blessed to spot operation getting going.

"Puts a grin connected my face, for sure," helium said. "It's a agelong clip coming, and I'm conscionable blessed that it's present and looking guardant to the future."

Colistro said helium expects the Chill to beryllium making usage of the caller installation regularly erstwhile it opens.

"Our programs conscionable proceed to turn and we're ever having to beryllium precise originative successful the wintertime to effort to support arsenic galore of our kids playing and engaged," helium said. "This is going to springiness america a batch of country to turn our programs and we're looking guardant to it. We're already starting to look astatine however we're going to make the caller programs and physique connected our existing ones."

A deficiency of abstraction for turf sports during the wintertime has been a interest of sports organizations successful the metropolis for years. Soccer Northwest, successful fact, archetypal projected the installation successful 2014.

The deficiency of indoor abstraction was exacerbated successful 2016 erstwhile the Sports Dome, located astatine the CLE grounds, collapsed successful a wintertime storm. It was ne'er rebuilt.

Confederation College would aboriginal adjacent its bubble facility, leaving constricted options for indoor turf sports. Lakehead University's hangar has a turf field, but disposable times are limited, arsenic students person priority.

"We're going to person to conflict for different year," Veneziale said Thursday. "But our groups are resilient."

"We've had to grind. We've had to enactment connected our own, and present the metropolis has our backmost and is providing a spot for the archetypal clip successful Thunder Bay history."

Thunder Bay Mayor Ken Boshcoff said the installation volition assistance making Thunder Bay a healthier community.

"A lot of these sports tin truly turn and blossom, due to the fact that present you could bash it from 8 months to 98 years old," helium said. "By having it twelvemonth round, there's a consistency successful being capable to widen sports seasons, and bash each those kinds of things, and without having the upwind dependency. Let's look it, we get a batch of rain, we get a spot of snow."

"Making radical healthier volition besides mean a healthier community, truthful we each triumph connected this one."