New eats, blue seats: Scotiabank Centre unveils fresh new look

The Scotiabank Centre's new blue seats replace the 37-year-old orange seats that were in place since the facility's opening.

Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre has a new look. After two months of work involving 1,100 litres of paint, the building’s management is showing off new features that include entirely new seating.

The iconic orange seats surrounded the ice surface for 37 years, and were replaced at an estimated cost of $3 million. All 10,000 of the new navy blue seats are padded, and feature a cupholder on the back.

“It works well as a background,” said Trade Centre Ltd. president Scott Ferguson. “Our goal is to make sure we don’t take away from what’s happening on the ice or what’s happening on the stage.”

One of the old orange seats will be hung from the building’s rafters.

“Just like you see Jody Shelley’s jersey up there, and you’ll see one of our orange chairs as well,” Ferguson said.

Renovations to the main washrooms cost nearly $1 million, and doubled the capacity. Traditional sinks have been replaced by a fountain-style sink.

Executive chef Collin Stone says the new concession is expected to be a crowd-pleaser. The area has an extra 1,500 square feet of space and a new menu, at a cost of $250,000.

“Well the donair station I think is going to be the hit,” Stone said. “It’s been well anticipated. People in the city are talking about it.”

The menu also includes pulled pork sandwiches, poutine, lobster rolls and hot dogs.

“You come to have your dirty little secret, and your dirty little secret is that slice of pizza and that hotdog, and basically we have to have that,” said food and beverage general manager James Demjan.

The concession area also features a booth that will host different chefs every five or six games, as a way to serve up fresh and local creations.

“What better way than to grab local personality chefs into the building,” Demjan said.

The Scotiabank Centre reopens to the public on Sunday, when it hosts the Canadian Country Music Awards.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Matt Woodman