Windsor Express hope for railway to Windsor Arena

The Barn, a historic Windsor landmark could soon be given new life.

The Windsor Express unveiled their plans to move into the 95 year old Windsor Arena on Wednesday.

Dartis Willis, president and CEO of the Express, believes there’s still a lot of work to do, but it’s an important project.

“It’s not about the dollar, it’s not about the time, it’s about what we can do within our community to leave a long-lasting legacy in the City of Windsor,” said Willis. “If you reach over to your left or to your right, you’re one-degree separation from someone who had a significant event in the barn.”

According to Willis, the proposal of the Express moving into the Barn has been about three years in the making.  He said the building  will be a multi purpose center, including sports, retail entertainment, as well as dining. He described the proposed building as a flexible facility, a living facility, not a facility that’s just going to house the Windsor Express for basketball. The basketball team is only going to take up 10 per cent of  the building.

“We don’t want to see that building come down,” said Willis. “It is part of Windsor, it is Windsor. And anything we can do to bring it back to life, we’re certainly giving it our best shot.”

While the Express have called the WFCU Centre home since 2012 and renewed their lease for another two seasons, Willis believes the building was never theirs and they couldn’t call it home. The new venue would have roughly 1,500 retractable seats with room for additional floor seating. It is expected that floor seats and standing room on an upper balcony would add an additional 1,000 seats for a maximum capacity of around 2,500.

Mario Iatonna is assisting with the project.  Although the proposal to the City of Windsor isn’t a slam dunk, they are on the shortlist to acquire the building. He believes the Express moving downtown would have a positive impact on the economy.

“When the Express is playing, we certainly see more people coming to the downtown and using restaurants and bars before and after the game and bringing a renewed energy to the downtown area.”

Currently, the Express do not have possession of the building. Assuming all goes as planned, Willis said the hopeful timeline would put them in The Barn for the 2021-2022 season. 

The team encourages the community to share their memories of the Barn at savethewindsorbarn.com.

“We understand what it takes to get there,” said Willis. “I do have a committed team to get there. So get on board, get out of the way, or get run over because we’re going to make it happen”.

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