September 7, 2005 Source: Queen's University:
http://qnc.queensu.ca/story_loader.php?id=431f0a12c1a38 Curling club, university reach agreement Sale enables university to move Queen’s and The Royal Kingston Curling Club (RKCC) have reached an agreement over the university’s purchase of the property currently housing the club’s facilities. At a special meeting Aug. 11, the RKCC membership voted overwhelmingly in favour of selling its existing property on Clergy Street behind the Jock Harty Arena and purchasing a new property on Days Road next to Centre 70. The acquisition of the Clergy Street property will enable the university to move forward with its plans for the new Queen’s Centre, a major building project that will combine student life and athletics facilities and a new home for the School of Physical and Health Education. It is to be built in phases over the next 10 years and is estimated to cost about $230 million. Groundbreaking is expected to take place mid-2007. The club will now be in a position to proceed with plans to build a new state-of-the-art curling facility at the Days Road site, near the intersection of Front Road. RKCC will begin its final season in the Clergy Street facility, where it has operated since 1934, in late September. It plans to break ground for the new building by Oct. 1. The completion of the new facility is slated for the fall of 2006. Founded in 1820, RKCC is the oldest, consecutively operating curling club in Canada. It has been home to many great curlers, including Queen’s alumnus and donor Michael Chernoff, whose family contributed to the building of Chernoff Hall, which houses the Chemistry department. Mr. Chernoff was one of countless students to curl at the club over the years. He later went on to skip a Medicine Hat team that won the Brier (the Canadian men’s curling championship) in 1978 in Vancouver. “Although we will miss the youthful exuberance surrounding the present campus location, we look forward to creating a fresh and equally exciting atmosphere in which the camaraderie between our members, the students and university staff will continue on and off the ice in our new home,” RKCC President Nick Brown and Vice-President Mike Tureski say. “We are very pleased that our negotiations with the curling club have resulted in a successful outcome from both parties’ perspectives and excited by the excellent progress we are making toward realizing our plans,” says Vice-Principal (Operations and Finance) Andrew Simpson. Queen’s Centre plans include five connected units spanning the area between University Avenue to Division Street and Union Street to Earl Street. It will include a 2,000-seat arena with an Olympic-sized ice rink, a basketball arena seating 1,800 and a larger (than the existing) swimming pool (37.5 by 21-metres). A field house, including a six-lane track, will allow the university to host national and international track meets.
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