New Multi-Surface Sports Complex Nearing Completion

Shane Tinney, Contributing Writer.

Construction outside of Nexus Center, via Nexus Center Facebook.

A brand new $67 million 169,440 square foot sports facility is nearing completion and is scheduled to be open on November 4.

The new facility, called the Nexus Center, is opening after years of construction and will be located right next to the Adirondack Bank Center, home of the Utica Comets.

The Nexus Center will have three 200 foot by 85 foot playing surfaces which can be used as ice or turf, meaning hockey, soccer and lacrosse teams can play there. There will be 1200 seats including luxury boxes overlooking the ice, according to the Nexus Center website.

The facility will contain locker rooms, office space, retail stores, food and beverage vendors, and other multipurpose training facilities.

The indoor complex has the versatility to host many different sporting tournaments and has events scheduled to take place shortly after its opening.

The Utica University women’s hockey team will call the Nexus Center their new home starting this season. They will play their first game at the Nexus Center on November 18 against Stevenson University.

“We’re very excited, it’s really come full circle,” said Georgiana Santullo, a graduate student who has played for Utica’s women’s team since 2018. “We sat down years ago when they first started designing the Nexus Center, and they were super great about wanting our input and if we had any design ideas.”

“I think that a big reason why Utica was such a good place for the Nexus Center is that it’s kind of that middle ground between Boston, Canada and Buffalo, where it’s a big attraction so you’re going to get a lot more tournaments going on here,” said Santullo.

“It’s just going to bring more attention to the city of Utica,” she said.

Even with the new Nexus Center, the team will not fully be saying goodbye to the Adirondack Bank Center, their current home rink. The team has scheduled games at the Nexus Center and the Adirondack Bank Center for this season, with their first game at Nexus on November 18.

Along with the Utica women’s team, the Utica Junior Comets also will play at the Nexus Center as their new home rink.

“Oh it’s amazing, the way we’re heading we’re trying to become a top junior hockey program in the country and now having a state of the art facility its going to be even better,” said Nick Pagliacci, the Head Coach of the Premier Junior Comets.

Pagliacci said the Nexus Center will help recruit when players come in from other areas to play in the facility, as it will be a new perk to being a Utica Comet.

The Adirondack Bank Center, which will be the Nexus Center’s next-door neighbor, has had a front row seat to the construction as it was halted and resumed.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a big influence on the project’s construction, said Jason Shaya, director of communications for the Comets.

“Well it didn’t slow it down, it completely stopped it. It was completely at a halt for probably over a year,” Shaya said. “There was just the skeleton of the building that remained there through the entire pandemic.”

Construction in Nexus Center, via Nexus Center Facebook.

Shaya said the Nexus Center’s proposed capability to have multiple surfaces for different sports other than hockey is the biggest aspect that differentiates the facility from other hockey arenas.

According to the Observer Dispatch, the groundwork for the project was launched about five years ago and was originally on schedule to be completed by now. Ground was broken for the project in February of 2020 but was halted in May due to the coronavirus pandemic and issues with lack of funding for the project.

Nicole Kiran-Kelly, the director of junior hockey for the Utica Jr. Comets, said to the Observer Dispatch that the opening of the Nexus Center will bring excitement to youth hockey organizations region-wide.

There are many youth hockey leagues in Mohawk Valley and not enough facilities to host tournaments, said Kiran-Kelly. Youth hockey teams travel to roughly seven to 10 tournaments every year, which can be expensive after gas, hotels and food, she said. With the addition of the Nexus Center, local teams will be able to save money and the local economy will be helped by teams coming from out of the area to Utica for tournaments.

“In sports such as hockey, figure skating, lacrosse, soccer, volleyball and others, our local youth will have access to exponentially more individual team training slots,” she said to the Observer Dispatch. “Not only will the youth of Mohawk Valley have access to more practice time, they will have also reaped the benefits of an athlete centered gym and training area.”

Not only will the Nexus Center bring entertainment and financial successes to the Utica area, but it will also be utilized in an educational manner as well.

“There’s so much we can offer our students that even in larger markets they don’t get,” said Robyn Bentley, a sports management professor at Utica University. “It’ll be such a great new facility here where we’re going to have our hands on learning lab right here with classrooms right above it.”

Students will gain experience in helping with ticketing, marketing, planning, and will be running events in higher level courses, Professor Bentley said.

According to WKTV, Utica University will partner with the Nexus Center to offer hands-on experience for students in the sports management program. Students will utilize the new facility to study and will work there as part of the curriculum while giving students knowledge on how to run sporting events, teams, leagues and camps.

“We’re just all excited and waiting for it to be open, once we move in it's gonna be unreal,” said Pagliacci.

Shane Tinney is a student journalist at Utica University and works for the student run TV station on campus, Utica TV. He is in his senior year at Utica and is working towards a degree in Communications with a minor in Journalism.