Friends of Charlottesville Ice Park

In brief: The ice rink cometh, will TJ’s birthday goeth? And more

You name it!

Good news for hockey players, figure skaters, and curlers who have been adrift since the Main Street Arena closed in spring 2018. Construction is scheduled to begin on a new ice rink in Brookhill, the Coran Capshaw and Alan Taylor-owned Riverbend Development project off U.S. 29 in northern Albemarle, in July.

Nonprofit Friends of Charlottesville Ice Park is raising money to build the long-awaited $5.6 million ice park, and there’s a lot of naming rights up for grabs. Want to see your name on the Zamboni? It’s available. The penalty box? That could be yours.

The new 36,056-square-foot regulation-sized facility promises seating for 400 and will be the home of both the UVA and JMU hockey teams. It features a state-of-the-art roof and improved party facilities and locker rooms, as well as a pro shop.

The skating community in Charlottesville has seen tremendous growth since 1996, when the Main Street Arena was constructed. As of 2017, the number of adult hockey teams in the area had grown from four to 17, along with five kids teams, one curling club, and three figure skating clubs.

Construction on the project is scheduled to be complete in May 2020.

Other opportunities to slap a moniker on the new ice facility include:

Building
Locker rooms
Bleachers
Concession stand/bar
28 rink signs
4 logos on the ice
Sponsors, like the official dentist or official chiropractor of the new ice rink

Quote of the week

“I have an entire filing cabinet right by my front door that I would be able to knock over so someone couldn’t enter the room. And that’s really painful to have to plan and start my year like that.”—Burnley-Moran teacher Carol Busching about what keeps her awake at night, at a gun safety roundtable June 10 with Senator Tim Kaine

In brief

Nixing TJ’s b’day

Mayor Nikuyah Walker proposed ditching Thomas Jefferson’s April 13 birthday as a paid city holiday, and replacing it with Liberation and Freedom Day in March to celebrate the emancipation of enslaved people in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. City attorney John Blair will address revising the holiday observance ordinance at the June 17 or July 1 council meeting.

Better venue

Plaintiffs leave Charlottesville’s temporary circuit court. staff photo

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the city councilors who voted to remove statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson don’t want to face a jury in Charlottesville and have requested a change of venue, alleging jury bias from extensive media coverage and a courtroom that’s too noisy, small, and hot.

Deeds challenger

Attorney Elliott Harding, former legislative director for Republican Tom Garrett, signaled his intention to run as an independent against longtime Democratic state Senator Creigh Deeds. In a tweet, Harding said his governing philosophy better represents the people of the 25th District, which stretches to the West Virginia border.

Quarry tragedy

Police recovered the body of Hanover County’s Henry Morin, 18, who was last seen swimming with friends at a Schuyler quarry June 4. Although private property, the quarry is a popular spot for teens who take a risk when choosing to jump. Morin would have graduated this week, and planned to attend college in Colorado.

UVA baseball drafts

Two UVA players were selected in the MLB amateur draft. Shortstop Tanner Morris was picked in the fifth round by the Toronto Blue Jays and right-handed pitcher Noah Murdock was tapped in the seventh round by the Kansas City Royals.

Championship tomes

At least two books have been released about the UVA men’s basketball team’s comeback journey. The Daily Progress produced Road to Redemption just weeks after the Wahoo win. Now former Progress sportswriter Jerry Ratcliffe and August Free Press editor Chris Graham have come out with Team of Destiny, which was released by tk publisher June 10.

Fairer ED

UVA reintroduced an early decision application option for high school seniors applying in August. The university stopped early decision in 2007 to avoid disadvantaging low-income students reliant on financial aid. The new option aims to be fairer and will release need-based financial aid decisions at the same time as early admissions decisions.

Brookhill base: Ice park planned at new subdivision

When an angel investor bought the Main Street Arena for nearly $6 million in March 2017 with the intent to turn it into a technology incubator, folks who frequented the 23-year-old ice park—the only one within an hour’s drive from Charlottesville—began to panic. But now it looks like hockey players, figure skaters and curlers could have a new home by next fall.

Board members of Friends of Charlottesville Ice Park, the nonprofit that formed to keep the Main Street Arena operating through spring 2018 after Jaffray Woodriff took ownership (and before he finalized his construction plans), are now working with local groups to design, build and operate a new rink in the Brookhill community, which is currently under development by Alan Taylor and Coran Capshaw-owned Riverbend Development in northern Albemarle County.

The rink’s initial site plan was approved in June, and developers submitted a final plan July 16, according to Megan Nedostup, a principal planner in Albemarle.

The nearly 40,000-square-foot ice park will house an official regulation-sized sheet of ice, while the Main Street Arena’s wasn’t quite as big, says Tom Carver, a board member with the nonprofit. It’ll have at least four locker rooms, multiple private party rooms, a pro shop for skating gear and a concession stand. Special flooring will be on hand to cover the ice for community events that aren’t skate friendly, just like at Main Street Arena.

Carver says working with Woodriff has been “phenomenal,” and adds that Woodriff donated an undisclosed amount of money to build the new rink, as well as all of the equipment from Main Street Arena. The project could cost as much as $4 million, and community members are already reaching out to pitch in.

“It’s really been amazing, the kind of support that we’ve gotten,” says Carver. “We’ve got people who don’t have anything to do with hockey or ice skating or anything else wanting to donate their time or money.”

A group of UVA alumni called the Committee For Home Ice are also working to build an ice park at the university, according to a press release.

Biff Beers, the president of the Blue Ridge Ice Hockey Association, which has long called the Main Street Arena its home, says his teams will practice and play at Liberty University’s LaHaye Ice Center in Lynchburg until the new rink in Brookhill opens, hopefully in time for the 2019 season, he says.

“We are sad that Main Street Arena closed,” he says. “We loved playing there. …But we are so excited about the prospect of getting a new rink in a mixed-use neighborhood that will serve our needs quite well.”

Last year, the BRIHA saw five teams of about 20 players, and Beers says while most of the athletes live in Charlottesville, several come from surrounding areas such as Fluvanna, Louisa and Harrisonburg.

Adds Beers, “We would fizzle up and die eventually without a rink in Charlottesville.”