It's the largest building the city, and possibly the territory, have seen.

And now, the Jeux du Canada Games Centre is starting to look like just that a major sports facility large enough to host the 2007 Canada Winter Games.

The erected structure is located off Hamilton Boulevard below the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre. Cement has been poured and crews from Ketza Construction and its subcontractors are continuing to work through the winter for a September 2005 opening.

'It looks like the contractor's aiming to have it done by June,' Wayne Tuck, the city's manager of engineering, said during a tour of the building Thursday afternoon.

That will allow the city time to get the centre ready for a fall opening.

Entering the building from the side door, patrons walk into a large corridor running the length of the structure.

On the right side is where the administrative area will be located. Patrons will be able to pay a fee to use the entire facility, including the leisure ice, running track, fitness area, child play area and other sites that are available at the time.

Linda Rapp, manager of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, noted the proposed fees for the centre will be similar to that of the pool next-door.

In the 2005 proposed budget, for example, a single-day admission for the multiplex would be $6.08 for an adult before the GST, while the aquatic centre fee is currently $5.90, including the GST.

'A single admission ends up being the most expensive,' she said.

There are punch cards and monthly passes available as well. Skate rentals will also be available.

While those areas will normally be open to the public when the structure is open, the NHL- and Olympic-sized ice surfaces, two gymnasiums and pool will also be open, depending on lesson and practice times for user groups.

Across from the administration area and child play site is the Olympic-sized ice surface, about five metres wider than the NHL-sized surface next door to it.

'Being one of the few Olympic-sized ice surfaces in the country actually, it provides us an opportunity as well to be able to market and bring in competitions and training regiments for top international and national level athletes,' Doug Hnatiuk, the city's facility and parks branch supervisor, told reporters.

Walking through the corridor, patrons will be able to view the activity at the rinks through the glazing that will be erected.

Off the Olympic-sized surface, near the entrance, is a small rectangular area that will serve as the leisure ice area.

There won't be boards at the leisure ice, but benches will be provided. Hnatiuk noted the city may eventually install some artwork as it did in the Whitehorse Lion's Aquatic Centre, which features some fake shrubs.

Between the two rinks are the male and female change rooms, a family change room and a change room for referees.

'You enter to the change rooms from the side and then go right out into the hockey arenas onto your appropriate bench,' Tuck said.

Above the change rooms, the cement is also in place for the 300 chairs facing both arenas. They will be accessible from the second floor of the building.

Next to the two arenas are the two gymnasiums. While both can be used for soccer, one will feature indoor turf specifically for the sport.

The other gym, the last room from the centre, will have wood panels where a variety of sports basketball, badminton, volleyball, to name a few can be played.

'There will be netting around the surface of play or the fields of play,' Hnatiuk said. 'And particularly around the running track so that people aren't able to throw debris down onto the sports field or jump over the rail or what have you. There will be safety netting all the way around.'

Across from the arenas and gyms are the three meeting rooms the building will feature, retail space where the administrative area to the pool originally was and stairs leading to the second floor.

While Rapp said there's no meeting room set up to meet media needs on a regular basis, the city has been working on plans for that for the 2007 Games.

The fully-accessible building also features two elevators, one for service such as food carts that need to get to the lounge/restaurant area on the second floor, and another for multiplex users.

The glazing that will allow users to view what's going on throughout the new part of the multiplex at the arenas and gymnasiums will also allow spectators to see what's happening in the pool.

Stairs are located across from the NHL-size ice and next to the gymnasium at the end of the building.

On the second floor of the structure over the administration area will be a fitness area, a service that is already provided through two private businesses in town, Peak Fitness and the Better Bodies Cross Training Centre.

Outside the multiplex before the tour began, Rapp noted the city is working with both businesses on an agreement for the public fitness area that would work for everyone involved.

'We haven't formally signed off on that agreement yet, but that's what we're proposing is that we would lease equipment from both private operators and that their membership will get a discount,' Rapp explained.

'Plus they will get a portion of the revenue from the monthly membership passes that would then go back to the capital costs of the equipment that we're leasing from them.'

She noted while the community wanted a fitness/wellness space in the new sports facility, the city also recognizes private businesses already established in the community are trying to make a living as well.

'So we've tried to come up with a plan that will work for both,' she said. 'And we've stayed away from, there's no heavy weightlifting equipment, it's only cardio and stretching and that kind of thing.'

There will be two universal gyms and two small stacks of weights, but no more than 20 pounds.

The fitness area will not provide personal trainer services as Peak and Better Bodies does. However, trainers working at the two private facilities will be able to bring their clients to the multiplex.

Rapp noted the fitness area will mean parents who have kids attending something like swimming lessons at the facility, will have a place to work out.

Just what the revenue going back to Peak and Better Bodies for the leased equipment will be is something that will go to council for approval, said Tuck.

The restaurant/lounge area will see the city go to tender for a private business to come into the facility.

Seating for the gyms and rinks will be accessible through the corridor on the second floor.

The third floor seems less like a floor than a massive circle overlooking the main floor of the facility above the half of the building closer to Range Road.

With no other indoor running track in the city, Rapp is particularly fond of the 210 metres (700 feet) of what will be rubberized track. The leisure ice and track 'really were gaps in the community,' Rapp said.

'People are just chomping at the bit to come here,' Tuck said of the track.

While construction has been continuing throughout the winter, the end of 2004 saw a minor leak in the building that had to be cleaned up.

'There's a pump inside our building that protects the hydrant from freezing it's just outside of the facility here at the south end and the early morning of Dec. 31, the pump failed mechanically and caused a leak,' Tuck said.

The contractor came in at 7 a.m. to find the water. The pump was shut down immediately, with repairs made, he said.

'There was basically nothing affected,' he said of the construction.

While the more than $30-million building is being constructed with a $20-million investment from the federal government for the Games, Hnatiuk stressed the plan for the centre goes beyond sports.

'It's our hope we're able to make it more than just a sports facility, but also a cultural centre, a meeting place for the community to come and gather, and so it's our expectation that we'll be able to attract different types of activates and conferences and artistic cultural events as well as major sporting events,' Hnatiuk said.

On Jan. 31, Bernie Van Hoft, of Edmonton, will begin his work as the building's supervisor.

Rapp noted Van Hoft brings close to 20 years' experience operating recreation facilities that have multiple uses.

The city advertised the job both locally and Outside, receiving between 20 and 30 applications. Those were shortlisted down to six, with Van Hoff getting the job.

'We're really looking forward to his expertise coming to join us,' Rapp said.