FLINT, MI -- Perani Arena is ready and able to host a hockey club, as it does right now with the North American Hockey League's Michigan Warriors, but key upgrades are needed to make it Ontario Hockey League ready, says the NHL's director of facilities operations.

Dan Craig, with more than three decades of experience coordinating arena operations and logistics, toured Flint's Perani Arena and Event Center last month at the request of the OHL, and while the building's infrastructure is sound, he said a "hefty price tag" will be required to host OHL games in the fall.

"From the time that building was built to today, our hockey game has changed quite a bit," Craig said. "Hockey operations has changed quite a bit. The requirements for ambulances, bus parking, all that stuff -- it's not when I played back in the '70s."

Craig said Perani Arena, built in 1969 to accommodate the Flint Generals of the International Hockey League fame, lacks the appropriate space for teams, game officials and media and is not prepared to handle a television broadcast.

He said a wall will need to be knocked door to combine two rooms to comprise the visiting teams' dressing room and has proposed two raised platforms in the corners of the arena to handle media and video review. Right now, media is relegated to a catwalk above the arena with the only way up a small, spiral staircase.

"You have to take a look at it and say, 'Where are we putting these people, where are we putting these people,'" Craig said. "We have to have video review, a video feed from upstairs to the visiting coaches, home coaches, all that kind of infrastructure."

Craig, who visited Perani for the first time, called the building's configuration different than most arenas he's been in. Dressing rooms for both teams are on opposite sides of the arena and the visiting team enters the ice from the side of the penalty box.

"As I told them, it might work for you guys as you see it today because of the teams that you're running," Craig said, "But when you're doing a (Canadian Hockey League) game, both of these have to have tarps all the way to your gate to protect the players and the officials."

Costa Papista, president of IMS Hockey Corp., the group in charge of the arena and Flint's new OHL team, says priority has already been established for many of the concerns Craig outlined. Plans are already underway for a complete overhaul of the two locker rooms, strength and conditioning rooms, bench and penalty box, media areas, along with installation of new dasher boards and glass.

Priority has also been given to a new parking lot and lighting and exterior sign facing I-69. Talks are underway with potential construction contractors and architects, and while potential costs and a timeline aren't set in stone yet, Papista credits Craig with helping identify some of the potential problem areas.

"Everyone knows the building is what it is," Papista said. "There's already been a lot of work done, and it's going to be continual up until the end of September. We knew going in that there was going to be a lot of work ahead of us. It's also part of the excitement, to be able to make positive changes."

Papista said new lighting was installed last week on the field side of Perani and the hockey offices have already been renovated.

A new roof and lighting were installed in 2010, shortly after Standard Insurance Company of Portland, Oregon, purchased the building, which had been foreclosed on in 2009. Concessions on the concourse were overhauled and a new paint job was added, too.

"They needed improvement, I'd say that's fair," said Jeremy Torrey, building general manager. "The building then was still well kept but still needed some improvements. When Standard took over, the first year they did all those renovations. It made a huge difference."

Craig says his biggest concern with the building going forward is maintenance. The 46-year-old building has seen some deterioration, he said, and it will be up to the new management team to invest in it.

"They totally got it, and that's the thing," Craig said. "Like I told them, if I lived in this community I'd be all over this thing. I would. I could see myself getting excited."

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Aaron McMann covers sports for MLive.com and The Flint Journal. Contact him: amcmann@mlive.com; follow him on Twitter @AaronMcMann.