With two and a half years of operation under its belt, Elevation Place in Canmore is doing better than anyone originally expected when the $36 million multiplex facility was originally proposed.
With a pool, library, fitness area and climbing wall all key parts of the multi-use facility since it opened in April 2013, after 28 months of use by residents and visitors it exceeding all expectations.
Manager of recreation Jim Younker presented Elevation Place’s report card to council at the beginning of September and noted how well it is doing compared to the business plan created for the facility before it was constructed predicted.
“Recreation Services revenues have tripled since the opening of Elevation Place,” Younker said. “I want to be clear, these are revenues, not profits. We are not making a huge profit at Elevation Place. For every dollar we take in for revenue, we spend 84 cents and 70 cents of that goes towards staff and contractors to deliver programming.”
Younker said the best part of tripling revenue at the facility is that goes hand in hand with the tripling of recreation activities in the community.
Recreation Services as a department includes Elevation Place as well as the Rec Centre and all other facilities owned and operated by the municipality, like the ball diamonds. Recreation Services revenues in 2012 without Elevation Place were $1.15 million, in 2013 they were $2.19 million, in 2014 they were $3.22 million and this year up to the end of July they were $2 million.
The net result on the department is that it has gone from a $306,871 operating deficit in 2012 to a surplus of $507,799 last year and is on track to exceed that this year. Younker noted those recreation costs do not include the cost of the facilities themselves. These numbers all reflect a much higher participation in recreation at Elevation Place than was anticipated by the business plan before development and that includes membership numbers.
Younker said the business plan developed in 2012 predicted membership numbers of 1,847 in 2015 and actual number of members as of the end of July is 4,597.
“That suggests that as many as 35 per cent of our population are members,” he added.
The pro forma business plan also estimated a 49 per cent cost recovery in 2015 and so far this year the actual number is 70 per cent.
“This basically provides you with an update on our progress,” Younker said. “Elevation Place has delivered on that vision of becoming the town’s gathering place.”
Councillors and Mayor John Borrowman were happy with the report and the success of the facility within the community.
“Everybody knows how successful Elevation Place is just by walking in and this kind of information is very helpful, not just for council, but for the public to be aware of,” Borrowman said.
