Temporary Ice Skating Rink Is First Mirabeau Point Project
A temporary ice skating rink, scheduled to open later this month, will be the first attraction at a proposed Spokane Valley community center complex.
Owners of the Ice House at Mirabeau Point said they expect ice to be laid Wednesday, and anticipate opening their doors to customers on Nov. 25.
Meanwhile, backers of Mirabeau Point, the multi-purpose complex proposed for the former Walk in the Wild Zoo site, expect a decision about infrastructure funding from county commissioners on Tuesday.
Approval of the group’s request for between $600,000 and $800,000 to build a road and sewer through the 70-acre site could set construction of the community center in motion, said Denny Ashlock, a Valley insurance agent who has been pushing the $39 million project.
It also could entice a commitment from the YMCA to build its 38,000-square-foot Valley facility on the site. YMCA officials consider the Mirabeau Point site their first choice.
Inland Empire Paper Co., which owns the land upon which Mirabeau Point would be built, has agreed to donate the property to the project.
Besides, the YMCA fitness center and Ice House skating rinks, attractions for the proposed complex include youth and senior centers, an outdoor amphitheater, a planetarium, nature trails, grass play fields and community college classrooms.
The Ice House’s temporary rink will be housed in a building adjacent to the former zoo offices. Included will be a 60-by-120-foot skating area, a snack bar and a pro shop. Limited skate rental also will be available.
The ice rink will help fill a void for Valley skaters and hockey players who are eagerly awaiting its opening, Ice House owners said. Ice time is already scarce from Tuesday through Thursday.
“If we had ice right now we’d have customers,” said Mike Sherman, co-owner of Icestarr, which is developing the Ice House.
Programs the Ice House will offer range from lessons for beginning skaters to 3-on-3 adult hockey leagues.
An adult 3-on-3 hockey tournament in early December will serve as a kickoff for the Ice House. A youth 3-on-3 tournament also is planned for the Christmas holidays, said Dean Gorman, Sherman’s partner.
But, the temporary facility is just a glimpse of what’s to come.
Construction on a new Ice House building and its two competition-sized ice rinks is scheduled to begin next summer, Gorman said. The first rink should open Nov. 1, and the second later that winter, he said.
The larger rinks - 85 by 200 feet - will allow Ice House to offer a wider variety of programs, including youth hockey leagues and figure skating, Gorman said.
Ice House developers are hoping construction on Mirabeau Point will be under way by then.
Gorman and Sherman both coach youth hockey teams and have visited several community center complexes during tournaments in Canada. They have seen the benefit the complexes brought to those communities, and said the potential for the Valley complex is unlimited.
“Mirabeau Point is going to be better than anything we’ve gone to,” Gorman said.
, DataTimes