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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Ice Rink Revival

With two separate projects, the Los Angeles Kings professional hockey team has moved further into the Valley to establish its presence at ice skating rinks. In October, the Kings partnered with city officials to build an ice rink and surrounding development in Reseda. Just a couple months later, team and partner American Sports Entertainment Co. purchased an ice facility in Burbank. The team already had affiliated facilities, namely the LA Kings Valley Ice Center at 8750 Van Nuys Blvd. in Panorama City and LA Kings Icetown at 10540 Magnolia Ave. in North Hollywood. The two latest deals underline the NHL franchise’s focus on the Valley market, and the deals came together because the timing was right for the Kings to promote their brand. “Expanding our footprint in ice rinks is critically important for us, in the Southern California region, no matter what,” Kelly Cheeseman, chief operating officer for the Kings, told the Business Journal. “For a long time, over a decade now, we’ve really been looking for an opportunity in the (San Fernando Valley.) There have been some very successful rinks there over the years, and it just came down to timing and opportunity for us to put the right touch of partnerships together.” Building and maintaining a fan base starts with community hockey centers, specifically youth hockey programs, Cheeseman added. Programs like the Lil’ Kings and Jr. Kings get Southern California kids interested in the sport early, with the possibility of becoming fans when they’re older. “In our business, for every new hockey player, guy or girl, it adds 3.2 new fans to our fan base,” said Cheeseman. “It really is about creating new fans – that’s our end goal. We want to maintain their experience all the way through the sport. These sports can be complicated, and we know when we can take control of that a little bit and make sure there’s integrity behind it, ultimately, they’ll stay in the sport and become Kings fans for life.” Rink in Reseda Last year, Los Angeles City Councilman Bob Blumenfield and LA Kings President Luc Robitaille signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form a new public-private partnership that will build and operate the Reseda Ice Rink. The site at 18128 to 18210 Sherman Way is currently a vacant lot. The project is part of Blumenfield’s Reseda Rising plan, which aims to revitalize the neighborhood as an entertainment and business hub. The construction budget of $26 million will come from various sources. The Kings are contributing $6.5 million; Prop K funding, including interest and leveraged funds, makes up $8.7 million; $500,000 in park fees; $4 million in Community Redevelopment Agency excess bond proceeds; $5 million as a “private loan” line item; and $1 million in Community Development Block Grants, according to Blumenfield’s office. When completed, the facility will be owned by the Department of Recreation and Parks, managed by the KingsOnce built, the facility will be owned by the Department of Parks & Recreation and managed by the Kings. Los Angeles City Councilman Bob Blumenfield found the idea – and some money – while looking into the former Community Redevelopment Agency. He found a line item from an early 1990s bond measure to fund parks. “I said to my team, let’s turn over every rock, figure out if there’s any money to capitalize on to do something,” Blumenfield said. “In that bond measure, a number of projects were line items, meaning the money could only be spent for a designated project. We came across a Reseda ice rink: $3.9 million in Proposition K, as a line item for an ice skating/roller rink. That was used in part to help sell Prop K way back in the ’90s.” The Kings were a natural first choice to partner with, Blumenfield said, with the team just coming off a Stanley Cup championship. The councilman hopes the public access rink will be the first of many more projects to crop up in Reseda and Canoga Park. “There’s a tremendous need. We did a whole number of community meetings about this, and there is a real thirst for community recreation. In general, people are excited about the rink,” added Blumenfield. When word got out about an ice rink in Reseda, curling clubs, figure skating organizations and every winter-related sport in between expressed interest in the proposed development. “It’s few and far between, and there’s nothing like this – certainly not in L.A., there’s no public ice-skating rink. The one in Burbank has always been a private facility,” said Blumenfield. In addition to the rink, Reseda Town Center development will have street-level retail space, a Laemmle theatre and apartments. The multi-use space is part of the Reseda Rising initiative. Burbank partnership In December, the Kings and American Sports Entertainment paid an undisclosed sum to buy Pickwick Ice in Burbank. American Sports plans a $1 million remodel for the property, which also includes a 24-lane bowling center, six conference and banquet rooms and a 2.5- acre garden. The facility has had a lot of success with its programs, but the aging structure “needed a little bit of love,” said the King’s Cheeseman. In fact, it was almost torn down to make way for condos and townhomes before the Kings and American Sports, based in Elmsford, NY, took an interest. Its new owners plan to rename it LA Kings Ice at Pickwick Gardens. Signage is slated for June, according to Darin Mathewson, vice president of operations for Pickwick. “We were already affiliated with the Kings, but the branding wasn’t there. Now that you have that, the mascot can come out for special events, and then you get the players. We’re thrilled with this situation,” said Mathewson. Pickwick will still maintain its existing programs, including the California Golden Bears, Burbank’s youth hockey travel team, and house organizations like the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club and UCLA Bears. “We can do more stuff with the Kings now,” Mathewson noted. “We can bring them in for camps, we can have a fantasy camp here, the pro players can come out for our Lil’ Kings program.” For now, that’s it for Kings expansion – officially, at least. “There are always a lot of conversations of interest. We’re open to all those conversations, but oftentimes it takes many, many years for them to come to fruition,” said Cheeseman. “We’re always looking at different opportunities,” he continued. “If the deals make sense, we will do them, but there’s a specific formula for us that we know, and it’s going to make sense, so usually aligning with the interest of the cities is the critical first step.”

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