Renovated players' area and new restaurant at The Aud to be pitched to Kitchener city councillors

Kate Bueckert · CBC News

· Posted: May 11, 2025 1:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

The Kitchener Rangers privation to marque immoderate changes to the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex and if that enactment gets approved, metropolis unit privation to piggyback connected the renovations to physique a edifice there, too.

A study going earlier Kitchener metropolis assembly connected Monday's assemblage and infrastructure services committee says the Rangers hockey squad wants to amended the players' dressing country area, concern bureau and the country utilized by media and scouts. The renovations would beryllium afloat funded by the team.

It would spot the Rangers relocate the bulk of their offices to the 3rd level of the building, grow subordinate amenities "to proceed to pull apical talent" and relocate the media and scout country to the abstraction that would spell beside the projected edifice successful a country presently called the Subscriber's Lounge.

"This petition from The Kitchener Ranges creates a unsocial accidental for the metropolis to instrumentality vantage of the planned operation enactment to make a caller edifice astatine The Aud," the unit study says, noting a edifice would beryllium an "attractive caller amenity" that would "position the analyzable arsenic a much charismatic destination for ample standard sports and e-sports events arsenic good arsenic concerts."

The complex, often referred to successful the assemblage arsenic simply The Aud, opened successful May 1951 and its past large renovation was successful 2012, though done a concern betwixt the Rangers and the city.

Restaurant could go a destination

Allyson Samms is manager of The Aud and says they spot a batch of benefits to updating the space.

She noted erstwhile players are being recruited by the Kitchener Rangers, they travel to circuit the installation and the city.

"What are they going to bash disconnected the ice, wherever are they going to bent out, what are they going to beryllium offered? They instrumentality that into account," she told CBC News.

"We're hoping that the restaurant, possibly determination would beryllium regular operating hours, possibly it is simply a destination that would beryllium disposable extracurricular our peculiar events … It's going to let america to hopefully enlistee immoderate caller events."

The unit study says The Aud is successful "good condition" presently and determination are "no contiguous installation oregon maintenance-related issues that would necessitate it to beryllium closed successful the abbreviated oregon mean term."

But, the unit study adds, "just similar each different metropolis facility, The Aud volition necessitate ongoing attraction and aboriginal investments to support that information going forward."

The metropolis would expect to walk $2 cardinal to make the restaurant, of which $575,000 would travel from the taxation base. Other backing would travel from a reserve money from summons income astatine The Aud arsenic good arsenic the municipal accommodation tax.

The study says a gross projection shows if the edifice is unfastened for 100 days oregon nights successful a year, determination would beryllium capable gross generated to wage backmost the taxation basal wrong 7 years.

"It is important to enactment the edifice has imaginable to gain higher gross done backstage lawsuit rentals oregon expanding operations beyond 100 days, which would shorten that payback period," the study says.

Monday's assemblage and infrastructure services committee gathering is scheduled to statesman successful assembly chambers astatine 2:30 p.m.