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“When I walked in, I don’t know that there’s any other word besides ‘Wow,” Oilers fan Jacob Golka said.

“You look at it from the outside, but getting the opportunity to walk in here, I love that they invited the public to come in and take a look at this. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Oil Kings fan Mel Nowytzkyj said the size of the building was most striking. “She looks nice and I can hardly wait until she’s finished and I can come to my first game,” he said. “I’ve been in the Bell Centre (in Montreal) and Air Canada Centre (in Toronto) and I think it looks nicer right now.”

“It’s a really huge place,” Fred Cheng said. “I’m an engineer and I’m impressed with the construction.”

Many fans said they hold fond memories of the city’s current arena, but look forward to making new ones in Rogers Place.

“Rexall Place was fine. I have many happy memories there, but this place is awesome,” Jesse Watt said. “I’ve been following the epic odyssey of this thing back when it was just talked about to when it was a hole in the ground, so when I heard about this opening, I totally had to come despite the cold.”

He noticed the bowl appears steeper than Rexall Place, reflecting the new arena’s cantilevered levels designed to give closer views of the action even in the cheapest seats.

“It feels like when I went to Rome and I stepped into the Roman Colosseum. I know it’s a brand-new building, but it’s just as impressive to me.”

Anne Dmytryshyn also liked what she saw. “It’s going to be really great for the city and really great for the team,” she said. “It’s exciting. It’s not very often you get a new facility like this in a city, so it’s a moment to celebrate.”

The open house was an idea by contractor PCL, which broke ground on the arena two years ago.

“It’s not very often we can open up an active construction site to the public,” said Rick Daviss, executive director of the arena district project for the City of Edmonton. “About a year ago, we were talking about how we can get the public involved in the project and really feel the ownership of it.”

The project is on time and on budget, he said.

An estimated 1,000 people toured the building in the first hour.

Bob Black, executive vice-president of the Edmonton Arena Corporation, said he wasn’t surprised so many came to see the building despite the harsh temperatures.

“It’s hardly a surprise to our organization, having witnessed the incredible turnout at the Heritage Classic and this is a Heritage Classic kind of day out there,” Black said, referring to the NHL’s first outdoor game, hosted by Edmonton in 2003 on a similarly frigid day.

PCL construction manager Mike Staines said the main structure of the bowl is complete and work has begun on architectural finishes to the envelope and the interior. The last piece of pre-cast concrete was installed Thursday and crews are working on team spaces and concessions.

Construction is expected to be complete Sept. 2.

bmah@edmontonjournal.com

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