Dundas arena continues to be plagued by delays

The J.L. Grightmire arena in Dundas is already six months behind schedule and the $7-million project isn’t expected to be ready for hockey again until July 2019.

Renovations of the arena include adding a whole new three-storey addition, an elevator and updates to dressing rooms.

The Dundas Real McCoys are one of the best senior amateur men’s hockey teams in the country but because of the delays they’re losing money and patience.

“There’s no evidence you can believe the dates you’re given. We were told a September completion date, October, then November, then March, then May. You can only fool people so much,” said manager and coach Don Robertson, Dundas Real McCoys.

The Real McCoy’s have been without a home rink for two full seasons, which adds up to roughly $80,000 in lost revenue. Those loses do not include beer sales or the 50/50 draw.

“It has affected our attendance by 75 per cent – up to 300 people a game. Average ticket price is 13 bucks a head. Do the arithmetic, it’s been two years now,” said Robertson.

City officials say some of the delays have been caused by cold weather and extremely hot conditions but upset resident Mike Alkerton isn’t buying it.

“They could be done in a month if they wanted it. I worked construction all my life, if they wanted it done in May, it would be finished,” he said.

The keys to the arena are expected to be handed over to the city by the end of May but then city crews will need to put the finishing touches on the project which will take another couple of months.