Sleeman Centre (Guelph)
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| Former names | Guelph Sports and Entertainment Centre |
|---|---|
| Location | 50 Woolwich Street Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1H 3T9 |
| Owner | City of Guelph |
| Operator | City of Guelph |
| Capacity |
Hockey: 4,715 Concerts 6,500 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | November 1998 |
| Opened | October 6, 2000 |
| Construction cost |
C$21 million ($27.9 million in 2017 dollars) |
| Architect | PBK Architects, Inc. |
| Services engineer | Integrated Engineering |
| General contractor | Ball Construction |
| Tenants | |
| Guelph Storm (2000-Present) | |
The Sleeman Centre (formerly the Guelph Sports and Entertainment Centre) is a 4,715 seat multi-purpose facility in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The Sleeman Centre has hosted concerts, sporting and family events as well as trade shows and conferences. The arena hosted the 2002 Memorial Cup.
The Guelph Sports and Entertainment Centre was built in 2000 at a cost of $21 million. A new arena for Guelph had been in discussion for well over a decade by Guelph City Council. The owners of the Guelph Platers, the OHL team at Guelph Memorial Gardens at the time, decided to move to Owen Sound in 1989, one of the reasons stated was the lack of a new arena.
Serious talks of a new arena for the Guelph Storm, who moved from Hamilton in 1991 and played out of the cramped Guelph Memorial Gardens, did not get started until the mid to late 1990s after the Guelph Storm's failed attempt to host the Memorial Cup.
Finding a suitable location, as well as the cost, was debated for many years. Many sites had been looked at including the Memorial Gardens site, the Fountain Street parking lot, and in the west end of the city where there was plans to build a new recreation and community complex.
When the Eaton's store at the Guelph Eaton Centre closed down, the city investigated the potential of building an arena where the now empty store stood. To acquire the property, the city had to purchase the mall from ING Barings for $1.7 million.
The 5,000-seat arena was then built on the site of the former Eaton's store after the purchase of the mall in 1998 and demolition of the back section where the Eaton's store once stood.
The city entered a public–private partnership agreement with Nustadia in 1998 to build and operate the Guelph Sports and Entertainment Centre for 30 years. The city contributed half of the cost of the project and also guaranteed a $9-million loan for capital costs, which was to be paid back by Nustadia.
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