The corner of Kipling Avenue and New Toronto Street in south Etobicoke might merely be described as 'ordinary' by the average passerby but come September, 2009, it will be anything but that when it becomes the main entranceway to the new Lakeshore Lions Arena, on which construction recently commenced.

A stone's throw from Lakeshore Collegiate Institute (LCI), the 10-acre site was formerly occupied by a Gilbey's Gin plant which sat abandoned for many years before it was torn down and the land was acquired by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). Under a new land lease agreement, the Lakeshore Lions Club will be the facilitators and owners of the new arena, although the land it sits upon still belongs to the TDSB.

The arena will house four pads, three to NHL size regulations and one to Olympic size regulations and will replace the old Lakeshore Lions Arena which now sits just west of Lakeshore Collegiate. That arena was built over 50 years ago when the city of Toronto donated the land to the Lions Club in another land-lease agreement. The Lions Club has overseen the operation of the arena ever since.

"We've worked a long time to come this far, it's been a full-time job for five years," said Brian Hoskins, who has been involved with the Lakeshore Lions Club for over 30 years.

"We have a history in here."

Maintained by a fulltime staff of 15-20 people, the 260,000 square foot arena will include 100,000 of non-ice area encompassing practice facilities for both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Marlies. The Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame, a pro shop and concessions will be situated within a 13,000 lower level lobby and a second-floor restaurant will look out onto all four ice pads.

The building will also house the Hockey Hall of Fame archives, as well as various offices, including one for the Lakeshore Lions Club, who currently occupy a space in the old arena.

The state-of-the-art facility is the first arena in Toronto to include what is called a Heat Recovery System, which allows the warm air pulled from the rinks to be used to heat the rest of the building, rather than being released directly outside.

"The whole facility has enough heat that we can do another building equal or double in size with the heat capacity that we aren't going to use in here," says Hoskins, adding that eventually a pipe could be installed connecting the arena to LCI, to heat that building as well.

The Heat Recovery System was installed at a cost of nearly $3 million dollars but Hoskins said it would have been foolish not to utilize the technology.

"We would have not been very cost efficient five years from now," he says.

Because the arena will be built on land currently owned by the TDSB, the arena must allot 500 hours of rink time each year for Lakeshore Collegiate. An additional 750 hours, at City of Toronto rates, will go to the Faustina club, who have been operating out of the old arena for over 50 years.

According to Hoskins, the naming rights to the new building will be sold commercially, due to the exposure the new building will have, in regards to the two prominent hockey teams housed within.

The arena couldn't have come at a better time - Hoskins says there has been no ice time at the old Lakeshore Lions Club arena in over 30 years.

"The beauty of this," says Hoskins, "is we're not-for-profit so that all of the money raised or income over and above the cost goes back into the community,"