Ice rink in PTC future?

Fri, 06/13/2008 - 3:31pm
By: John Munford

The Peachtree City Council was somewhat receptive toward asking its citizens to approve a proposal to build an ice skating rink and fitness center at the Highway 74 Baseball and Soccer Complex.

But the current version of the proposal is likely too expensive to pass voters’ muster, council members told the project’s principal backer, fitness center owner Dar Thompson, at the council’s June 5 meeting.

A staff analysis showed the annual operating costs for the city’s portion of the buildings, not including personnel, was $1.8 million a year.

Under Thompson’s plan, the city would be renting the ice rinks and fitness center over 20 years but would be building and operating four basketball/volleyball courts along with two meeting rooms and a multipurpose “rink” that could be used for indoor lacrosse and soccer.

Thompson said the savings in gas alone for families using the facility would far surpass the estimated $8 a month in city taxes the facility would cost each year.

But, as several council members pointed out, Thompson would have to convince the voters the proposal was worthy of increasing property taxes.

Thompson said his company, which operates three World Gyms in Fayette County, would like to lease the fitness center while Center Ice Inc. wants to operate the ice rink under a 20-year lease.

Mayor Harold Logsdon said one option would be to develop several different proposals, including one that had just the rink and fitness center since those would be revenue-producing deals.

Thompson is also proposing to have trails for cross country, jogging and passive uses.

The main ice rink would seat up to 1,200 people and a secondary rink would seat 300; both would be used to host “at least four tournaments a year” for an estimated guest total of 6,000 and an estimated gross revenue of $2.4 million.

Plans are to offer youth and adult ice hockey leagues along with figure skating and public skating.

If the main rink’s ice is covered, it could seat up to 2,200 people, Thompson said.

The facility would also include two meeting/banquet rooms that would be served by a kitchen and possibly used by civic groups. The potential “teen center” would be located above those rooms. The parking lot would have room for 850 cars, projected to be adequate for handling the tournament traffic and also serve as overflow parking for the baseball and soccer fields.

If approved as initially proposed, the facilities would equate to a one-mill hike in the city budget.

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tfarrell67's picture
Submitted by tfarrell67 on Tue, 06/24/2008 - 5:01pm.

Nay sayers ought to look to Huntsville, AL and ask what are they doing right.
http://www.iceskate.org/
Hockey in the South? Yeah it's alive and well (and could be profitable).


Submitted by keegan on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 10:23pm.

after playing hockey for years in the Peachtree City Hockey Association (PHA) i would love to see an ice rink come to Peachtree City. I know that hockey is not as popular of a sport here as the other sports, but the inline league and select teams/high school teams have captured many honors. This past season the J.C. Booth Middle School, Starr's Mill JV, and both McIntosh High School teams won state championships. The McIntosh varsity team then went on to place 2nd in the National Championships. With the inline league filled up and many kids and adults having to sign up and be placed on the waiting list another league and place to play would allow more people to play the game.

With only so many ice rinks around, and most of them a good hours plus drive, this would allow an expansion for people on the southside of Atlanta to play the game without having to drive an hour just to attend a practice.

Mike King's picture
Submitted by Mike King on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 10:23am.

and have all the initial costs to include construction, etc be paid from exclusively private sources and once the project is complete lease it to the city to run. Certainly, they have the experience from the Tennis Center and Amphitheatre and would do a wonderful job. The profits could be divided according to the percentage of upfront capital invested by private donors. The citizens of Peachtree City would only be charged at a usage rate (no use/no pay).

After completion, property values go up, city revenues increase, kids have something else to keep them occupied, and the quality of life increases.

Oh, did I fail to mention that should this venture not be profitable(Tennis Center/Amphitheatre) the investors recourse would be the tax break from a bad investment.

Just my two cents worth.


Submitted by kreedham on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 6:12pm.

Mike, the last time I saw figures the tennis center lost money while the amphitheater made money...not enough to balance the two. I suspect it is still like that.

Now on to the ice rink. IMO, I think this is a good and positive move for the area. Baseball, soccer, and other sports are held in practically every city and/or county. Ice facilities are limited so the demand (Duluth and Marietta) is quite high. An ice rink in PTC would virtually have no competition as the few locals who do play would switch from North of Atlanta to here. Also, with virtually no competition the reach would extend to several counties in the area. I believe the Thrashers are bound to Duluth as their practice facility but I'm sure they'd be interested in having camps and clinics here with a practice on occasion. They certainly want to extend their reach.

Roller Hockey has around 400 kids and adults that play at Kedron and I imagine many if not most would love a chance to move to ice. The folks at PTC Hockey do as good or better than any other sports associations around.

Also their would be public skating which I promise would be quite popular.

I'm sure the folks proposing the ice rinks are carefully reviewing their proposal and will make a compelling case for giving PTC/Fayette County something to be proud of.

All in all, I think it would be profitable for the area. Not only can we enjoy it but folks will be coming from all around spending money in PTC/Fayette.

I say Bring on the Ice!

Submitted by flygirl727 on Fri, 06/20/2008 - 9:46pm.

I am moving to PTC from Mississippi. My daughter has been ice skating for 3 years back home, but our rink closed January 1st. It was run as a part of an amusement park set-up. Since then we have been traveling to Birmingham. They have a rink in Pelham, and it is great. It's run by the city and it makes money. There is also a city run rink in Huntsville that does well also. Our rink was treated as a hindrance to the other part of the park and was not advertised or supported by the amusement park's management but yet it had a solid base of skaters. I would imagine if you have 400 kids and adults playing roller hockey that you already have a great base of skaters that would be interested in ice. We plan to make the trek to Alpharetta to ice skate when we move, every week, probably twice a week as my daughter is a competitive, freestyle skater. However, I would love to save that gas money, travel time and keep my money in PTC.

Mike King's picture
Submitted by Mike King on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 6:00am.

...I have no aversion to an ice rink in Peachtree City, and as far as the other items on Dar's wish list, they easily stand upon their own merit. Where you and I possibly dissagree is in the capital investment. Should all this be profitable, and I believe that it is, why can it not be financed through private sources?

Now, if ever, is not the time to burden the taxpayers of Peachtree City with $20M in debt considering the current budget. Common sense tells me that the proposal's private funding should have been Dar's first priority then, when attained, sought tax concessions from the city to protect his investment.

Peachtree City voted down extravagant upgrades to the Gathering Place and artificial turf at the baseball-soccer complex last fall and surely will vote this proposal down if given the opportunity. What concerns me is that somehow our current administration will by some means force it upon us without public consent. After all, they seem to know better than we mere citizens.

Again, now is simply not the time for public funding for private ventures less we wish a repeat of the Tennis Center debacle.

Just my two cents worth.


Submitted by sageadvice on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 8:03am.

We simply must find work for the handicapped developers here! They are having a hard time finding anything to develop on their own. They need tax money badly.

In addition we have 3000 real estate agents in Fayette making zilch right now.

Submitted by MYTMITE on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 7:00pm.

It has probably been 20-25 years ago but there was an ice skating rink in the area--on Highway 54 in Coweta County. If I remember correctly it was solar powered. I took my granddaughter,who was around 5 years old then, for ice skating lessons. Does anyone remember why it closed??

mudcat's picture
Submitted by mudcat on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 7:57pm.

Both of them, actually.
Number one, the one you asked about in Newnan was closed because of bad construction - specifically the floor under the ice. And secondly, the thing that gets all ice rinks - low attendance after the first year.

You didn't ask about number two in PTC, but that would be Tivoli which closed for teen misbehavior, bad floors, poor construction and bad management. That was a roller skating rink and attendance was never an issue.

Lesson to be learned - build a roller rink - not an ice rink.


Submitted by susieq on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 7:49pm.

The name of the ice skating rink was Shenandoah. I believe it closed because of lack of participation (after the new wore off).

Submitted by MYTMITE on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 8:15pm.

Shenandoah was the one I was thinking about. It was really popular for a while and then started to fall off if I remember correctly. It has been gone a long time. I was really referring to ice skating but I do remember the Tivoli--that was open until not too long ago wasn't it? Seems it started to get pretty rough, if I remember correctly.

Submitted by Spyglass on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 10:04am.

This type of thing comes up. I remember it not all that long ago about some ball fields, training facility down off of 74.

Seems that Dar has plenty on his plate with his 3 health clubs. The one In PTC is very nice, I'll give him credit. I moved to PTC for all the amenities, and I appreciate them. But this, like the idea floated 3-4 years ago, seems a little far fetched.

If it is a good idea, how much money are the "private portions" of this development willing to put up? Up front, non-refundable. Let's hear it.

Shelby Barker's picture
Submitted by Shelby Barker on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 9:42am.

Peachtree City Citizens, I have an idea, let me open up a massive....lets say restraunt....on land that the city gives me, and I will operate the waiter aspect of it, while you tax payers operate the cooking aspect. Just let me make sure that I make some sort of profit off of the tax payers money.

Oh wait, I promise, it will be a huge benefit to the citizens though, so your tax money will be well spent.

DEAL??

VOTE CONSERVATIVE


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