April 15, 2003
On Local Ice Rinks
As we wait to see the next move on the part of supporters of the proposed ice rink for Pioneer Courthouse Square, it might be instructive to read this article from the April 11 edition of The Oregonian, about the Clackamas Town Center closing its rink.
The decision to close the rink was made by the mall's new manager and part-owner, General Growth Properties of Chicago. General Growth bought 50 percent ownership of the mall last August from the Illinois Teachers Retirement System, which had been full owner. General Growth also took over management of the mall, said Paul DeMarco, the mall's general manager.
DeMarco said the mall rink can no longer compete with several new, more modern rinks in the Portland-Vancouver area. He also cited increasing operational expenses.
There's a fair amount of context in terms of local ice rinks and how well or how poorly they perform. For some bizarre reason, however, the article utterly forgets to mention the proposed Square rink. Given how that project's proponents, at the first public workshop on the plan, went out of their way to state that operators of other local rinks thought the proposal was sound, it's instructive to look at this larger picture.
The number of ice rinks in Portland has doubled in the past five years. Sherwood Ice Arena opened in July 2000. Mountain View Ice Arena, which has two full-size rinks, opened in Vancouver in 1998. Other ice rinks in the Portland area are the Lloyd Center rink and the Valley Ice Arena in Beaverton.
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"In talking with other rink owners, it's pretty tough out there," Bahls said. "As in any business, you'd like to grow."
But don't try to tell all this to PBA-head Kim Kimbrough, who (as reported here previously) has pimped the municipal ice rink in each of the last three cities (including Portland) where he's held similar posts of influence.
Comments (2)
Kirt Oliver on 11 Dec 2004
Having been in the ice arena business for several years, I can tell you that it would definitely be a battle operating an ice arena in the city center as is proposed.
I don't know if the plan is to operate seasonally or not, but it may be an option to consider.
Development of hockey and figure skating programmes is of paramount importance to a new facility, and there is a lot of competition nearby from Beaverton, Vancouver WA, & Sherwood. Since the Valley Ice Arena is in such poor shape, I would think you might woo some business from there; But I would doubt you'd get much from Vancouver or Sherwood.
Any expectations of profit in the near future would be utter foolishness. Success would depend on aggressive promotional activities (probably at a heavy loss at first).
Make sure to investigate all types of chiller plants as some are much more efficient to operate than others. I've seen a couple of very successful ice arena/swimming pool combinations (one such is the EPIC center in Fort Collins, CO) These "combo" facilities use the heat from the chiller condensers to heat the water for swimming and thereby reduce costs very effectively.
I'd love to see another successful ice arena, but a lot of thought and consideration must be given to avoid a disaster.
Kerry Fashoway on 13 Feb 2005
I really don't think that this city could support another ice rink no matter where they place it.I myself use Valley and Sherwood and have in the past used Mountain View.There is only so many skaters in this city that can support the existing rinks let alone another sheet of ice.
Kerry Fashoway