When BC Experience opens in the historic Crystal Garden on Monday, it will provide 20 million new reasons to visit Victoria and give local residents as many great new reasons to come downtown.
“New partnerships and new opportunities have significantly expand the scope and quality of BC Experience,” says its president, Mel Cooper “Thanks to our partners, what began as a $12 million project will now feature total investments of more than $20 million – making this a huge new community asset for Victoria.”
On the heels of the announcement of Panasonic Canada’s partnership earlier this month, Cooper says Parks Canada has entered into a ten-year, $3.5 million dollar partnership, announced today by Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, which will see uniformed Parks Canada interpreters staff a 2,000 square foot (186 m2) Parks Canada Discovery Centre within the BC Experience. The centre will showcase the diversity of the National Parks, Historic Sites, and Marine Conservation Areas.
“In addition,” Cooper told members of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce on Thursday night, “we have just taken-over the leases of the nine retail units on the Douglas Street side of the Crystal Garden and they will re-open next week. Over the winter, we’ll spend nearly a million dollars to totally renovate and upgrade them.” As was announced earlier, $3.6 million was invested by the Province of BC in the architectural restoration and conservation of the internationally significant Crystal Garden building, which the Provincial Capital Commission owns as a public trust. PCC chair Bill Wellburn said the money was spent on its areas of landlord responsibility such as major seismic work, installation of sprinkler systems, and on a new generation glass roof. “The engineers tell us,” Wellburn said, “that this work should extend the life of this beloved heritage landmark by another eighty years.”
“The end result,” says BC Experience executive director John Thomson, “is a new generation of discovery centre – the first of its kind in the world – that will allow visitors of all ages to experience a taste of B.C.’s astonishing geographic, cultural, and historical diversity, all under one roof. We know there are concerns about a drop in tourism this year. We’d like to think we’re providing 20 million new reasons for people to come to Victoria.”
BC Experience will open to the public at 1:00 p.m. Monday, with opening-day admission by donation to The Land Conservancy of B.C. Summer hours will be 9am to 10pm daily. Admission will be $14.95 for adults, $12.95 for youth and seniors, $6.95 for children (kids under 5 admitted free), or $34.95 for a family pass. As an introductory offer, annual passes will be available for only $10 more; $21 more for a family.
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