The city’s new ice arena and recreation center could cost $52.6 million to $56.3 million based on a conceptual design, the Bangor Parks and Recreation Department revealed at a city council workshop Monday.
The 92,000-square-foot recreational center and ice arena proposed to be built on Griffin Road would replace and combine multiple aging facilities and add services residents say they want.
Tracy Willette, Bangor’s parks and recreation director, brought the conceptual building plan and financial estimates to the city council on Monday. The plan was created using the results of a years-long feasibility study that asked hundreds of residents what they want to see in the new center.
Based on the conceptual design, the ice arena portion would hold two rinks — one for youth hockey and high school events and the other for a practice area — locker rooms and restrooms, a multipurpose space, skate sharpening and concessions. The ice arena is estimated to cost roughly $21 million.
The recreation center, meanwhile, would include a three-court gymnasium, a three-lane suspended track, locker rooms, an indoor playground, child care space and room for other community activities, and cost about $19 million.
The property would also have a separate, adjacent, 42,000-square-foot building to hold offices for both city and school recreation maintenance staff, which is expected to cost an additional $8 million.
Once complete, the recreation center and ice arena is expected to cost roughly $2.8 million to $3.1 million annually to operate, but earn $1.3 million to $1.4 million in annual revenue.
After the joint recreation center and ice arena is finished, the land could later hold the city’s department of health and community services, which is currently located on Texas Avenue, as well as two turf athletic fields, 10 pickleball courts and two tennis courts.
That future expansion could cost $6.5 million to $8 million in total.
Local consulting firm BerryDunn, which conducted a feasibility study for the facility, identified six potential city-owned locations for the new center and ice arena, Willette said. The Griffin Road property, which the Bangor School Department owns, was determined the best match for the new building because of its large size, flat topography, central location and proximity to Interstate 95, Bangor High School and Husson University. The other five sites were each 20 acres or smaller.
The new facility would replace the existing Bangor Parks and Recreation Center in the former Bangor Armory on Main Street and Sawyer Arena in Hayford Park on 13th Street.
Both facilities were identified in the department’s 2021 master plan as needing major upgrades or total replacement.
The city’s parks and recreation center has outgrown the former armory, which was built in the 1930s. Today, it hosts child care, recreational programming and city parks maintenance staff.
Sawyer Arena, meanwhile, began as an outdoor ice rink in 1980 with walls and a roof added later. It now operates as a seasonal ice hockey rink from October to May.
