There's a little more than $1 million left in the Richmond oval's post-Olympic conversion $24 million budget.
And city council made short work Monday - about 10 minutes - of approving what to spend the last of the money on.
Expansion of the mezzanine floor ($430,000), retail space ($325,000), new fitness space ($175,000), locker room improvements ($100,000) and children's play space ($50,000) were approved for a $1,080,000 total.
The mezzanine expansion, to primarily allow more programming to take place, will actually cost $1.78 million, with $1.2 million
previously being approved from the oval's budget and $150,000 from its capital reserve.
Many of the items, according to the staff report, made the project list due to efficiencies found by oval staff on post-Olympic conversions already carried out.
The retail space is long overdue, according to the report, which is expected to add an "important ... revenue stream," as well as promoting oval and city branding.
Apparently, oval members and visitors have been asking for Olympic oval merchandise, such as water bottles, mugs, towels and clothing. Also, equipment and accessories are much sought after, such as aerobic gear, hockey tape, shampoo and pucks.
The oval's general manager, John Mills, told council Monday that it's "highly likely" the retail outlets will be contracted out.
With 75 per cent of oval members having fitness as their top priority, more fitness space is required, with an emphasis on privacy and noise mitigation from other facility user groups.
Creating "executive locker rooms" had originally been suggested as part of the overall oval conversion. However, it was decided that the $100,000 available would be spent on improving the existing locker rooms.
