Cambridge city council approves next step in Preston Auditorium expansion project

Preston Memorial Auditorium (City of Cambridge)

Cambridge city council has approved the next step in its plan to expand and renovate the Preston Memorial Auditorium.

Construction of the estimated $29.2 million project is expected to the completed in 2025.

Councillors unanimously approved the schematic design for the upgraded auditorium at their meeting on Tuesday, July 19.

The project will see the facility’s existing arena renovated and expanded to include a just under NHL-size ice pad with around 820 seats. A second new arena with a full NHL-size ice pad and seating for 450 will be built beside it.

“We’re making big updates to the whole facility,” said project lead Shane Taylor.

Other changes will include improved accessibility, new dry land training space and multi-purpose areas, dedicated change rooms, office, storage and training space for the Cambridge Rivulettes, and dedicated office and storage spaces for both the Cambridge Minor Hockey Association and Preston Figure Skating Club.

“Preston definitely has a love of hockey, there’s not question about that, and sports in general,” said Taylor. “This facility is a big need, it’s something we identified a few years ago.”

The city originally planned to include two NHL-size rinks at the auditorium, but scaled back its vision after designs came in $8.2 million over budget at an estimated cost of $36.1 million.

“We had looked at how we could how we could expand that existing ice rink to full NHL size, but it’s just very, very expensive,” said Taylor. “The way the building was designed and built back in the 1970s it just doesn’t easily allow us to get the extra width on the pad we would need.”

The city hopes to break ground on the project in June 2023 and open it to the public in 2025.