The Kootenay Climbing Association’s Cube 2.0 project is “staying on track,” with nearly $2 million raised and final design work now underway.
Jayme Moye and Cam Shute, board members of the association, provided council with a project update Tuesday.
The group first pitched the idea to council in 2022, aiming to develop a state-of-the-art facility that would be the first in the region capable of hosting Olympic-calibre climbing operations.
The project was originally estimated to cost about $4 million, but that figure has risen to roughly $10.5 million. It will be built on city-owned lands behind Selkirk College’s Mary Hall.
Moye told council the group has raised $2 million in in-kind donations so far.
She described a “six-pronged” fundraising strategy spanning community, municipal, provincial, federal, corporate and philanthropic sources.
Moye said the group has made significant progress on the government funding front over the past year.
“We just received the REDI grant for $400,000. We’ve also since received $500,000 in funding from the B.C. Mass Timber Demonstration Program and another $50,000 from ETSI-BC,” Moye explained.
“With the infusion of cash from those grants, we were able to kick off final design this past fall, which is what we’re in the thick of right now.”
The design phase alone costs about $474,000, prompting the group to take a critical look at its business plan to ensure the work is done correctly.
“We really wanted to make sure we got it right because it’s kind of a one-time thing that we’re hoping to do and then proceed into construction,” Shute explained.
“So we took a really critical look at our business plan, and the worst thing would be if we built this and failed operationally. We actually dialled back the size a little, with guidance from the architect and other businesses.”
The group’s goal is to have the project structured, targeted and ready to absorb capital funding opportunities as they emerge.
The first step is raising regional awareness.
“The go-forward path for getting funded from the federal government is to have regional collaboration and cooperation,” Moye said.
“Not shared unified fundraising, but just like Rossland knows what Nelson’s doing and they know what Trail’s doing and they know what Creston’s doing. So having that kind of, let’s call it union or solidarity in supporting and knowing about each other’s projects.”
The final design should be finished by September. Shute said corporate and philanthropic donors typically prefer projects to have 50 to 60 per cent of funding secured before committing, a benchmark that will shape Cube 2.0’s next phase.
“And then the next step after that, if all goes well and we obtain the funding, we will be breaking ground and trying to build this thing,” he said.
Click here to view the full project update.
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