Now that he has a three-year lease to manage and operate the Roll-A-Dome, knowing the venerable 69-year-old building is not going to be sold and leveled by some developer hoping to turn a profit, Jordan Yu’s plan is starting to unfold.
After years of speculation and worry that it might end up crumbling under a wrecker’s ball, which spurred community groups to rally to the rescue with their “Save the Dome” campaigns, Yu is doing what it takes to make the Roll-A-Dome the permanent home of many of the city’s sports, arts and recreation programs.
It doesn’t look like much from the outside, and aside from a coat of paint the Roll-A-Dome resembles an aging warehouse that has seen better days. But it’s what goes on inside the building that counts. The new lease has prompted a collective sigh of relief from user groups who would have no other place to go if it closed permanently.
“The Roll-A-Dome has been part of the PG community for generations and we want to keep it going as a community centre,” said Yu. “So many great memories and times for people have been spent in it. People really love the place. You can just tell how special this place is for a lot of different people and we’re hell bent on keeping it that way for everyone.”
Yu only has to talk to some of the folks he sees coming by the ‘Dome for drop-in roller skating on weekend afternoons to remind him what the facility means to the community.
”It’s like, ‘’I’m so glad you guys did this and thank you, I’ve been coming here since I was a child,’” said Yu.
The pandemic has shut down most of the ‘Dome’s leagues and restrictions on activities and gatherings have also stopped most drop-in users from using the building. The interrupted revenue stream and the fact former operator Jon Lafontaine did not renew his lease last September raised speculation the building would be sold to a developer.
The nine shareholders who bought the building in 2006 to preserve it as a community recreation centre did receive at least one offer but were reluctant to sell it, knowing a sale would likely seal the Roll-A-Dome’s fate.
“Ever since the last lease ran out there was talk about shutting it down but that was never going to be the case,” said shareholder Al Work, the face of the Roll-A-Dome for decades. “We were going to make sure we would get somebody in there to keep it going.
“We turned down quite a lucrative offer from someone wanting to buy it. They said they were wanting to keep it recreational but we had our doubts it was going to be fully that way, so we went with the leasees because they’re planning on keeping it going the way it always has been.”
Yu’s proven track record as owner/operator of Northern Bounce Basketball Academy, which has been based at the ‘Dome for three years, and the fact his business partners live in the city helped convince the ownership group to offer them the lease.
“We’re happy with the deal, I think it’s going in the right direction,” said shareholder Tony Ciolfitto. “I know they’re committed people and they’re Prince George people and they made a solid offer.
“We’ve had offers from other people that might be tied to the apartments going up around there. We’re all getting a little older and maybe it is a good time to sell. But we had the feeling if we did do a deal with those people I don’t think the Roll-A-Dome would have been around in a couple years.”
The pandemic is showing no signs of going away any time soon and Yu says his group is prepared to continue absorb the losses that come with keeping the building open until they can resume normal operations.
Built in 1952, the Roll-A-Dome is located on Recreation Place. The 30,000 square-foot facility has two indoor arenas/gymnasiums used for roller skating, roller derby, skateboarding, soccer, ball hockey, lacrosse, rugby, baseball, boxing, freestyle skiing, BMX riding, cross-fit workouts, air-soft shooting and dog training. The indoor space will continue to be used for trade shows, antiques fairs, garage sales, firefighter testing, birthday parties, weddings and graduation functions. The ‘Dome also houses a used bookstore.
Original part of the Prince George Golf and Curling Club, the Roll-A-Dome was a 10-sheet curling rink until 1979, when Work moved his roller skating rink from Red Rock to become was the original lease-holder.
Lafontaine laid much of the groundwork when he developed his business plan three years ago and Yu said he will continue working with the same user groups to pick up where they left off once the threat of the pandemic is gone. For many of those groups, the Roll-A-Dome is the cheapest available venue for their activities, which adds to its appeal.
“We’ve looked around town at all the different rates for gym rentals and we feel we’ve matched the lowest price you can get a gym in the city,” said Yu. “The best part about us is you can book by the hour, you don’t have to book four-hour chunks of time like other gyms in the city. That was the big draw for our (Northern Bounce) program when we first started, the hourly rates.”
Yu and his silent partners are going to invest in improvements to the ‘Dome, just as he did three years ago when he laid down hardwood over a concrete floor to convert an arena into a gymnasium for Northern Bounce. The academy currently has more than 200 kids learning the skills of the game on weekdays, before and after school, and on weekends.
Some of the space adjacent to the two gyms will be turned into a community day-care centre for working families. One of Yu’s business partners has experience operating hotels and restaurants and within a couple years they plan to convert the second floor of the main gym into a permanent restaurant/viewing area for spectators.
Once the pandemic is over, Northern Bounce will get back to league play and tournaments. Yu, the senior boys basketball coach at Duchess Park Secondary School, where he teaches full-time, wants to team up with strength and conditioning instructors and coaches from indoor soccer, lacrosse and volleyball to offer multisport camps during spring breaks and summer vacations.
Yu, a Duchess Park graduate, went on to a stellar five-year career at point guard with the UBC Thunderbirds and is well-connected provincially in the basketball world and he wants to create an annual First Nations basketball tournament, similar to the highly-successful All Native tournament in Prince Rupert.
He’s working on a partnership with Sports Canada TV to set up cameras in the two gymnasiums to allow remote viewing and recording of games played in the ‘Dome’s recreational leagues.
The Roll-A-Dome is close to the Prince George Playhouse and one of the long-term goals is to team up with the Playhouse to bring fine arts and music programs to the ‘Dome. The main gym could also be used to host concerts for local entertainers.
“We have plans for music lessons here and some sort of fine arts programs, hopefully working with the theatre and the events at the Treasure Cove (Casino and Hotel) to make this corner of the city a booming space for a multitude of things,” said Yu.
“Maybe we could have a space for bands to practice. We could have a study hall for kids and have people for tutoring here as well and then they could do their sports. I think that’s what the city needs and it would be great to be a part of something that’s so beneficial for our youth.”
The new investors have seen photos of the Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre, a carbon-copy of the Roll-A-Dome built in the ‘60s, which was transformed into a modern-looking building in 2011, and Yu said a similar project, which is in the long-term plan, could bring the ‘Dome’s exterior up to date.
