Independence, MO —

Progress is at the midway point for the Independence Events Center, a facility on the verge of officially announcing it’s major anchor tenant.

The Benham Companies’ Aaron Young, project manager for the site located at Interstate 70 and Missouri 291, said JE Dunn construction workers are on pace to complete the nearly $70 million multi-purpose facility by its Nov. 2 target date.

“About 90 percent of the exterior is done,” Young said. “At this point, we are on schedule to meet that date.”

The arena will feature a minor league hockey team as anchor tenant, but will also include a separate sheet of ice for community programs.

Last week, city officials said a prospective hockey ownership group has been identified and are hammering out contract and lease agreement details before making a public announcement. The hockey team will have the city name of Independence attached to the franchise and would compete in the Northern Conference of the Central Hockey League this fall. A tentative home opener has been scheduled for Nov. 13-14

“Because of the economy that we are in, the fact that the city has continued to stay true to this process says a lot about their commitment to their community,” Young said. “It would have been really easy to say ‘this is costing us a lot of money and this is not the right time.’ I think that’s being short-sighted. The leadership of the city had the foresight to stay the course and I think it is going to turn out well for them.”

The main arena will also be used for other sporting events, concerts, trade shows and graduation ceremonies, among other family-friendly programs. Capacity for hockey games will be 5,800 seats, Young said, adding 6,800 seats will be available for “end show concerts” and possibly more for center stage performances.

“It’s pretty rare, but if they wanted to do a center stage set-up, you could get 8,000 people in here,” Young said.

Earlier this month, city officials also announced the Truman and William Chrisman boys and girls basketball teams will play a doubleheader in December at the new arena.

The game will replace the annual matchup between the Bears and the Patriots in the Hoops Rivalry Showdown, played the last two years at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City.