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Officials Outline Cost, Potential Profits In Ice Palace Deal
By Catherine Galioto
What does the fiscal picture of turning the Ocean Ice Palace into a community center look like?
Residents have asked that question time and again at public meetings. In between comments praising the deal, others were everything from curious to demanding in their search for answers. Township Administrator Scott Pezarras tried to paint a conservative picture of the costs to run such a facility and the money it would generate.
The equation is in the black - officials expect the site to draw a profit in its first year of operation.
For a while officials such as Council President Stephen Acropolis said the community center could be a moneymaker for the township. At the last township council meeting, Pezarras' math backed up those hopes, though he did offer the caveat that the figures were very initial, not a complete picture, and only an attempt to estimate in order to provide the public some answers.
Pezarras sought answers from experts in maintaining facilities such as ice rinks and pools, and used a previous study that focused on the property behind the post office as a possible site for a community center. Based on that information, Pezarras came up with some ways the facility could cost money and ways it could draw money in.
When you subtract the costs from the revenue, the facility would make $440,000 in profit. Acropolis said that was a conservative estimate.
Pezarras said the facility could create revenue in several ways. From rentals, ice time and contracts with teams wanting to use the rink, the ice rink could draw $955,000 in its first year of operation. A pool could net $18,000, Pezarras reported.
If the township spends $1.5 million to improve the building, the profit would still be $200,000, Pezarras reported.
Pezarras estimates it would cost $250,000 for management of the facility. It would need an operating budget of $1.9 million to pay for things like utilities.
Some residents called the deal a nobrainer. Others, including Councilwoman Kathy Russell, wondered what a thorough look at the building's infrastructure and stability would find. The roof is leaking, but are there other issues that could raise costs?
Other residents would like to see more plans for what the township hopes to do with the site.
But for the moment, the only truly solid figure is a payment of $5.4 million to buy the land. Township council voted to approve that expenditure last month. Now officials are deciding whether to issue bonds to pay for that purchase. The township still has to iron out a final contract with the owner.
However, officials offered some of the vision they hope for the tract.
The township is seeking to spend $5.4 million to buy the ice rink, pools, buildings and fields on the 13-acre parcel fronted by the Ocean Ice Palace on Chambersbridge Road, in hopes of making the facility into a community center for recreation, senior services and other amenities. Under the proposed plan, the Civic Plaza and Foodtown site would be sold to help pay for the cost.
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