Spokane Arena to close for three months for $10 million renovation

The Spokane Arena will soon undergo a $10 million renovation to update its retractable seating and replace its lighting, including the ribbon winding around the facility and lighting up Spokane’s night sky.

Work begins this spring as the Arena closes down after its Lil Wayne concert on May 16. The construction schedule calls for the arena to be ready to reopen before the Aug. 30 performance of singer Jelly Roll.

According to Spokane Public Facilities District Director of Entertainment Matt Meyer, many renovations will be done at the same time during that three-month period, so the venue will not need to close more than once.

“The last thing we want to do is shut the building down for multiple months multiple times, so we’re forcing a lot of projects in at one time,” he said. “You shut down something like this, and it’s a massive domino effect on a lot of people. So we want to make this have the least amount of damage possible to the whole economy, our employees and the public.”

Meyer said the three summer months are “slower” for the arena than other times of the year.

Still, major renovations are needed to ensure the longevity of the aging building, he added.

The arena’s 12,000-seat retractable seating is original to the 30-year-old building, and parts to repair the equipment are difficult to find. Only adding eight to twelve seats total, all of the north, south and west retractable seating will be replaced.

All of the lighting in the building will be replaced with LEDs, including the ribbon that wraps around the inside. The change will lower the arena’s energy use and put it into compliance with state green energy requirements set forth by the Washington State Clean Building Act passed in 2019.

Among other renovations, communal showers will be replaced with individual shower stalls for teams. The venue’s club will be moved, an additional 60-80 seats will be added and the building’s freight elevator will be replaced.

Many of these changes will be “less visible” to the public because they relate to the better function of the arena, rather than an overhaul of its aesthetics, Meyer said.

Meyer is confident the shutdown will not last longer than the three months currently scheduled.

“They will get done in time,” he said.

The arena opened in 1995. The contractor for the renovations is Lydig Construction. Architecture and engineering services will be done by Integrus Architecture PS and MW Consulting Engineers PS, according to a report in the Spokane Journal of Business.