By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph’s Civic Arena has undergone quite an upgrade, with more planned.
St. Joseph City Manager Bryan Carter says maintenance and upkeep of the downtown facility had been neglected for years until voters approved a parks tax that financed some noticeable improvements.
“There’s a lot you can see very easily,” Carter says. “You can see the new lighting. You can see the new floor. You can definitely see the new scoreboard. Then there are some things you can’t see, such as the plumbing issues, the HVAC issues, or the rest rooms in general. We’ve been going through just really kind of a laundry list of projects to get various things done.”
Carter says much of the work simply refreshes outdated décor.
“Inside, of course, you’re just going to have some of your neutral colors,” Carter says. “It’s going to be a refresh, but we are going to get rid of some of those aged-looking items, primarily the orange numbering and such. It’s not what you see in a modern facility.”
The upgrades so far have been on the inside. Now, the outside will get some attention.
“So, just having Civic Arena painted on the side, there will be Civic Arena signage added to the southside, eastside, and westside of Civic Arena,” Carter says. “It’s going to be aluminum signage with halo-style signage. It will have lightning behind it. It will have that modern look. It’s going to have a significantly better look than what it has right now.”
Carter says updating the Civic Arena is important to the city.
“It’s an important facility for us,” according to Carter. “It still serves as that big event space that we need for the UCP Chili Cook-Off, for the Chamber (of Commerce) banquet, for those things. The improvements are enabling us to bring back that kind of sports hub in that facility.”
Earlier this basketball season, the Civic Arena hosted a regular season women’s basketball game featuring Kansas State and Missouri. The NCAA will host the Division II women’s Elite Eight at the March 25th through the 29th.
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