In Hamilton, old arena takes new shape

Renovations are underway at former Copps Coliseum

- SCOTT RADLEY

The seats are all out. The private boxes are gone. The stairs you'd use to exit from the concourse onto York Boulevard are no more. The scoreboard is wrapped in plastic.

And finishings have been removed from every corner of the place.

Four months after renovations began at the building formerly known as FirstOntario Centre (we'll get to what that means in a second), the place looks like you've never seen it before.

"For people who see the outside façade and think nothing's happening," says Oak View Group vicepresident of communications Teri Washington, "it is." It is, indeed.

That's really the story here. After so many delays and a seeming lack of traction for so long, work is absolutely underway to renovate the downtown arena.

And it's not just a paint job or some minor touch-ups.

Today, the inside is down to the bare bones. It's a hollowed-out, dusty homage to concrete painted in various shades of grey, all backed by a soundtrack of jackhammers.

There are still some walls to come out and some other significant changes to be made, but the work already done is significant.

While it takes some imagination to visualize what it'll eventually look like, a tour on Monday helped paint a bit of a picture.

We'll start where those York Boulevard stairs were.