North Perth has awarded a tender for construction of an important local landmark.
When the old Listowel Memorial Arena was torn down, ideas were heard on what to do with the site. Almost immediately, the idea to build a memorial park honouring the victims of the 1959 arena collapse was endorsed by council and the community.
Manager of Facilities Jeff Newell says the request for tender to construct the park has been awarded to Horst Construction.
"So we're excited about getting the project underway. It's been a process of fundraising, and approvals and design, and we are in very good shape to start the project. A special shoutout to the members of the MAP 59 fundraising committee, which have raised over $700,000 for the project thus far," Newell shared.
Newell says the project fundraising has been a great success and is offsetting a massive amount of the cost.
"So the total of the project was budgeted at $1.4 million, and the tender awarded was for $1.25 million. So the municipality had identified in their 2024 budget $1 million for the project with the assumption that the fundraising would raise $500,000, and it's far exceeded that at this point and will continue to grow," Newell said proudly.
Donations are still being accepted by the municipality towards the project, and more information can be found on its website. In terms of a timeline, Newell anticipates work should get underway soon.
"So the project kick-off should be in the next month. We're figuring by the end of May we'll see some activity at the site, and then the project would go into the fall. So that would be our expected completion date is sometime late in 2024," concluded Newell.