Construction will begin soon on a new home for Union College’s hockey teams.
A deal between the college and West Yard Properties, LLC has been finalized to build a new arena at Mohawk Harbor in Schenectady. The $50 million arena will be home to Union College’s men’s and women’s Division I ice hockey teams.
The arena, near the Mohawk Harbor and Rivers Casino, would receive $20 million over 25 years from the private college.
Athletic Director Jim McLaughlin says Union’s current on-campus facility, the Frank L. Messa Rink at Achilles Center, is nearly 50 years old. McLaughlin says talks about the aging arena began with exploring options to renovate the existing facility or a new building on campus.
“Then turned to Mohawk Harbor to discuss some possibilities about a public-private partnership down at Mohawk Harbor,” McLaughling said. “So, the very productive, ongoing conversations with the Galesi Group, Metroplex, the city and others, about all of us wanting to make this happen for a great event center for the city of Schenectady, Union hockey in a building that will host many events across the year.”
McLaughlin says the move to the more than 97,000-square foot arena will benefit all student-athletes.
“It's going to give us increased locker room space for some of our teams,” McLaughlin said. “It's going to allow us to expand strength and conditioning space for our remaining teams, athletic training room space, and we are going to have great indoor turf space.”
The Schenectady County Legislature approved the use of $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act money to support the Mohawk Harbor Arena. The city council also approved $2.5 million for the project.
State Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara of the 111th District says $10 million in funding for the construction of the arena was provided in the state budget and an additional $1 million has been made available through his office.
Santabarbara says he’s happy to see a facility of this magnitude be built in his district.
“The funding actually was an initial step,” Santabarbara said. “There was much more, as I said, in terms of agreements and how the arena would function, how it would operate, access to the community, a number of different things that had to be worked out. And that's really what took some time to do.”
The Democrat says the new arena will attract sports tournaments, conferences and trade shows to the region.
“Schenectady is a unique destination now. It has a number of things,” Santabarbara said. “It's not just Proctors anymore downtown, there's a number of different things, a number of different investments, including Rivers Casino, the Mohawk Harbor itself. What this will do, as I said, it's a positive impact because it does create jobs. It does create economic growth in the Schenectady area.”
It would also serve as a backup venue for Schenectady County SummerNight and SUNY Schenectady’s graduation ceremony in the case of bad weather.
Some residents are expressing concern over the potential traffic the stadium will bring to the area. Suzanne Unger is the former president of the Stockade Association. Unger says ahead of the opening of Rivers Casino in 2017, the association made a proposal to the city to mitigate the impact of traffic on the neighborhood.
“They did a few minor things which probably helped somewhat. But anybody who lives on Front Street or Union Street, they'll tell you that there's still a lot of traffic that's coming through,” Unger said. “And we anticipate with the with Mohawk Harbor, that of course, particularly when they have special events going on that it'll get worse.”
Unger hopes that outside of games and practices, the rink will be open, free of charge, for the community. City Council President Marion Porterfield says the council has asked for sliding fees to be added to the Community Benefits agreement.
The Democrat says she hopes the continued development of the city leads to relief for residents.
“I think development is great. But what I want within that development. I would like to see more of the more return on our investment in terms of money being returned to the city through taxes for the major developments that we've had to lessen the tax burden and the increase in taxes or fees on residents,” Porterfield said.
Construction is expected to begin this spring and be completed when the puck drops for the 2025-26 hockey season.
