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Minoru Centre for Active Living to open in March
Published 1:57 PDT, Fri March 15, 2019
Last Updated: 2:12 PDT, Wed May 12, 2021
Excitement is building towards
the opening in March of Richmond’s $79 million Minoru Centre for Active Living.
This provides a major expansion of aquatics and seniors services for our community
to replace existing undersized and obsolete facilities. It is a simple,
spectacular design located on the west side of Minoru Park and will feature an
outstanding array of sport and recreation services.
The aquatics centre is the
largest component. With six different pools, it will increase the surface water
area by 60 per cent from the old Minoru Aquatics Centre. You will find these
highlights:
• two
25-metre accessible pools with flexible programming features
• a large leisure pool including
a river run, spray elements and play features
• a wellness area with two hot
pools, cold plunge pool, steam room and saunas
• large change room areas with a
mix of gender-specific and universal change areas.
The facility will also provide
the new home for our seniors centre. It is double the size of the old seniors
centre and is designed on two floors with a dedicated entrance and lobby. It
includes a fireside lounge and a full-service café with a commercial kitchen,
as well as a range of activity rooms such as an arts studio, woodworking shop,
billiards/games area and multipurpose rooms. “Older” adults represent Richmond’s
fastest growing population segment and the Centre will meet their important
needs today and for decades to come.
Minoru Park is the host site for
hundreds of events each year. Park users are well aware of the popularity of
its running track and playing fields. Eight team rooms will be provided in the
Centre for sport field users along with multipurpose spaces to support
tournaments and events.
There will also be a spacious
fitness centre, along with three outdoor plazas to enhance the experience.
This new Minoru Centre for Active
Living will replace facilities that no longer meet the needs of our growing
community. Council has already approved the repurposing of the existing seniors
centre to augment the program space needed for arts and community groups.
Council also needs to make a decision on the future of the current Minoru
Aquatics Centre building. I believe the site should be returned to open green
space for families, partially replacing the green space in the park that has
been taken up by the new building. As a centre-piece park for our community, we
need to avoid over-crowding Minoru Park with buildings.
To learn more about the Minoru
Centre for Active Living, its amenities and programs visit the centre’s new
website.