Southport Reveals $3 Million RecPlex

Southport Aerospace recently announced that it will be building a new recreation facility to replace the one currently in use. The estimated $3 million Central Plains RecPlex went into tender on Wednesday and will house a food service area, washrooms, changerooms, a bright open space with big windows on the main floor where the weight and exercise equipment will be housed, a 100-metre two-lane running/walking track, a cardio area, a climbing wall, and a connection to the existing gym by a lift. The RecPlex will not have a pool as Southport doesn’t want it to conflict with the PCU Centre’s aquatic facilities. What it will have as a draw is a rock wall, which May believes will be the jewel in the crown of the rec centre as there isn’t anything like it in the Central Plains area. “Our goal is to establish a world class business centre balanced with lifestyle wellness and recreational facilities,” said CEO Peggy May. “We can’t wait to offer some of these new amenities to the community and to the people in the region and the nice thing about having a welcome area at the front is that it’ll be a bit of a gathering place.” May said the current recreational facility has 400 members and 20 user groups using its services, which translates to about 1,300 people coming and going through the building every day. Although the facility receives no government funding, May said discussions about membership fee increases haven’t been discussed yet, but users shouldn’t see too much of an increase. “We’re going to make it as flexible and affordable as we possibly can because we want more people to use it,” said May. Southport currently employs more than 530 people, has 188 residential units that are home to more than 500 people. The air base also has accommodation facilities for 300 RCAF pilots who train at the airspace annually. The build will house a daycare, which will provide space for four babies and 24 pre-schoolers, according to the daycare centre’s executive director Lisa Voth, which is welcomed news for military personnel who live and work at the air space. “Daycare is an ongoing issue for the Canadian Forces members who work here,” said Lt.-Col. Scott Mutton. “They move around a lot and it’s hard to get into daycare spaces. That will be very welcome news for our members and they can take advantage of that and not have to worry about one les thing when they’re posted here.” The Central Plains RecPlex will also launch a new website on June 1 where user groups can add their own webpages on the site. “We’re really excited about that. We think that will be a unique feature to people that are using the facility,” said May. The Central Plains RecPlex is expected to open in the spring of 2016. Since Southport took over control of CFB Portage in 1992, it has invested almost $100 million in new facilities and services. The last project completed by the aerospace company was a $4 million apron in front of KF Aerospace (formerly Allied Wings).

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