Concrete poured on ice rink at Acrisure Arena

Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms reached another major milestone in its construction. Thursday morning, construction workers were out pouring the concrete for one of its rinks.

Within six hours, the future practice rink for the Coachella Valley Firebirds was transformed.

“Exactly one year from our groundbreaking we actually poured the ice floor today this morning very early for the community ice plex. So definitely a huge milestone in the project,” said John Bolton, senior vice president/general manager for Acrisure Arena.

About 420 yards of concrete were poured on Thursday. In July, workers are going to pour concrete into the arena rink.

Arena officials said it wasn't easy to get to this point, everything had to be perfect.

So what's next?

"What we’ll do next is the criteria of how flat that floor needs to be is really mandated by the AHL. So we’ve got to pour what’s called a super flat floor. So, we’ll survey that floor a little bit later to make sure it’s exactly where it needs to be and then we’ll start the curing process,” said Bill Dieter, AECOM project executive.

Construction on Acrisure Arena is expected to be complete in a few months.

“We’re 200 days or so from opening in December so you know a lot of milestones in between now and then. But most importantly what really comes next is the exciting part of announcing shows, concerts, and family shows, and big events going on sale as we hit summer," Bolton said.

Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates.