Richmond has received $1 million in provincial funding to help build a new outdoor sports and events plaza near the Olympic Oval.
The planned plaza will include an artificial turf field, basketball courts and an event staging area.
It will be built on a 60,000 square foot (5,600 square metres) plot of land directly south of the Oval (between the Oval and River Road), according to city spokesperson Clay Adams, and will be able to be used year round.
“The Olympic Oval is an enduring legacy venue of the 2010 Winter Games for Richmond and the country,” said Mayor Malcolm Brodie, in a statement.
“(The plaza) will expand opportunities for use through programs, public use and events, and bring more vibrancy to the neighbourhood around the Richmond Olympic Oval urban waterfront community.”
Adams said there is no timeline for the development yet and it’s too early to know site configuration and the overall cost of the project, which will need additional funding.
“We expect to know more in the coming months and will update the community once we have those details,” he said.
The grant funding comes from the provincial government’s Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program’s destination development stream.
In total, 52 tourism projects across B.C. received a share of the $21.3 million destination development funding.
