KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — The city of Kalamazoo has set the date for the site plan review for a new downtown event center.
Plans for the event center were posted to the city’s business and development website Saturday morning. The 62 pages of architectural drawings from Tower Pinkster show the plans for the event center and two nine-story parking structures that will take up four city blocks bordered by North Westnedge Avenue, West Water Street, North Park Street and West Kalamazoo Avenue.
The event center will have two NHL-sized ice sheets and event space. Renderings show varying setups for the space hosting basketball tournaments and several different layouts for concerts both in the main arena and in the practice rink. Instead of a painted log at center ice, the plans call for LED lights to be used at center ice depending on who is using the arena at that time.
The $300 million privately funded 320,000-square-foot building is expected to host more than 230 events a year and create hundreds of jobs. According to Southwest Michigan First, it is expected to pump $57 million annually into the local economy.