Civic Arena gets interior makeover with paint redesign

By Cameron Montemayor

With a fresh new coat of paint one area at a time, St. Joseph is making headway on an all-new interior look for its premier multi-purpose arena.

Built in 1980, the traditional orange, tan and blue colors at Civic Arena are transforming into a palette of black, gray and white as part of a top-to-bottom interior paint redesign, one of many components in the facility’s large multi-layered rehabilitation plan.

“We wanted to make the building more flexible as far as the different types of events that are here,” St. Joseph Parks, Recreation and Civic Facilities Director Chuck Kempf said. “The orange that was in here was a little difficult for some of the groups to deal with.”

Kempf said the inside of the facility now sports a cleaner and sharper look that matches the aesthetics of other modern arenas, with community feedback largely being positive thus far. Exterior paint work and the installation of new outdoor signage is also on tap at Civic Arena following interior paint work.

The $452,777 paint project — funded through parks sales tax and American Rescue Plan Act funding — began in May and is expected to be at or near 100% complete by late October or early November. Interior painting has required additional time to complete due to arena events forcing contractors to pause work at various points.

“The paint is the biggest aesthetic improvement and I think it’s a statement to the people that use the building, to the community and how much their investment means,” Kempf said. “When you walk in here now, the changes are pretty obvious. And I think the community needs to be proud of that.”

St. Joseph Sports Commission Director Brett Esely said among the extensive upgrades, it’s incredible what a new coat of paint can do to help modernize a 44-year-old building like Civic Arena.

Interior paint work comes on the heels of more than $4 million in extensive and widespread renovations that have been carried out, from the installation of new seating, lighting and sound systems to an all-new scoreboard and stage, among others.

“When you look at where the venue was in late 2021 compared to where the venue is in the summer of 2024, it’s really amazing,” Esely said. “It’s just really the next step in the process.”

With another round of high-profile sporting events scheduled at the Civic Arena this year, including the D-II Women’s Basketball Central Region Showcase on Nov. 8 and the Bill Snyder Women’s Basketball Classic on Dec. 14, facility upgrades have been and continue to be crucial for securing events in high demand across the region.

“The reality of high profile events is those event owners have needs. They have modern needs, technological needs. And so this wasn’t really an enhancement per say. This was a catch up to what we’re competing against across the country with other venues,” Esely said. “Those events likely aren’t coming here without the commitment to that venue, not only from our city leadership but our voters who showed commitment to doing that.”

Esely said those events are just the tip of the iceberg for what the commission and St. Joseph can play host to. He has even greater aspirations to lure events that go well above those seen previously.

Continued investment with the facility and opportunities to address St. Joseph’s downtown hotel scene — which suffered a blow after an agreement for a downtown Marriott hotel last week fell through — will boost the odds of securing future events significantly.

Even with a variety of upgrades near completion or scheduled to begin soon, Kempf said local residents can expect to see continued investment into one of St. Joseph’s key facilities in the coming years, including $5 million for restroom and HVAC renovations.

“Bids for restroom renovations are coming in Thursday, so hopefully we’ll be able to process that paperwork, make the decision on the contractor and get all of that done by September and turn the contractor loose this fall,” Kempf said. “It’s still in the early stages, but we would like to improve the entrance areas to the arena and kind of create more of a plaza look.”