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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

City Ice Rink Coming to Capitol Hill's Cal Anderson Park

Posted by Cienna Madrid on Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 12:57 PM

Cal Anderson park will be home to a temporary outdoor, 50-by-80-foot ice skating rink December 6-24, thanks to a parks activation partnership between the city and the Capitol Hill development company Hunters Capital.

"Not all of the details are nailed yet but we know the rink will be located on the basketball courts," says Seattle parks spokeswoman Dewey Potter. "We're hoping it'll be a success so we can do it again."

Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, which first reported the story, says that admission will be $12 for adults, $6 for kids (per hour) and the rink will be open 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily.

Interestingly, the rink—which will cost $100,000 to bring and operate in the park—will be run as a nonprofit separate from Hunters Capital. "We receive no profit from this," stresses Jill Cronauer, a spokeswoman for the development company. "In fact, we’re crossing our fingers, hoping we break even." If the rink turns a profit, the group will use that money to bring it back next year. "Eventually, if this successfully continues, we'd donate [the profits] to parks or the city," Cronauer says.

Hunters Capital owner Michael Malone first had the idea for sponsoring the skating rink two years ago when the reflection pond at Cal Anderson park iced over and people used it to skate. "We were walking by and he said it was a fantastic thing to have in the park during winter, when the park is underused," explains Cronauer. "So this summer, he said 'let's really try and do it.'"

A press release from Hunters Capital states that the tented rink will be festooned with holiday decorations, and include seasonal music and free gift wrapping. The group estimates the rink will attract roughly 400 visitors a day to the Pike/Pine street corridor.

The rink will surely please high-strung parents, the Cal Anderson Park Alliance, and other business interests concerned with the park's "reputation," as long as children don't start feeding kettle corn to the homeless.

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Comments (34) RSS

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Will ice hockey be banned? Something tells me alot of people who give this a try, only to sit and wait for a pickup game to end. If ice hockey were actually popular in Seattle, our minor league team (Thunder Birds) would have never left.

Posted by Kinison

on November 8, 2011 at 1:07 PM

Hunters Capital! Everyone's favorite GOP-donating, Stranger Genius Awards-sponsoring, Sorrento-owning, Broadway Apartments-building, lumpy tiny Jimi Hendrix sculpture-commissioning, Elliott Bay Books and Poquitos-landlording, Coho Building live/work artists-evicting holding company! Well, bless Mr. Malone and all who sail in her.

Posted by gloomy gus on November 8, 2011 at 1:12 PM

you spelled Capitol wrong in 'capital hill blog'

Posted by sonder on November 8, 2011 at 1:13 PM

Ice Polo!!

Posted by merry on November 8, 2011 at 1:15 PM

What an unexpected developement. I hope it works out. What about curling?

Posted by Vince on November 8, 2011 at 1:17 PM

Isn't that already happening for free? http://bit.ly/ic3rink

Posted by piojin on November 8, 2011 at 1:17 PM

What a coincidence. I happen to have a weekend free in December. I guess I know how I'm spending it: standing in line to go around in circles with strangers.

Posted by MacCrocodile

on November 8, 2011 at 1:21 PM

As Jill Cronauer is on the board of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and Hunter's Capital has spoken to the surrounding business owners - I think that they'll be just fine with it... In fact, they're pretty happy...

Posted by M. Wells on November 8, 2011 at 1:21 PM

How can I organize a pick up game? Damn, wonder if I could even get out there for stick and puck? Does anyone know yet?

Posted by orange&black on November 8, 2011 at 1:27 PM

@1 The T-Birds moved to Kent Station because they had a new rink built there. They're still the Seattle Thunderbirds. We also have a team in Everett (the Silvertips) that regularly plays to packed houses at the Comcast Arena.

Other ice rinks in the area do not allow hockey games to take place during public skating time. I can't imagine this will be any different.

I know you have this weird bias against the game because you went to see the T-Birds once and some stupid kid yelled "faggot", but that is some weak-ass trolling, Kinison.

Posted by Hernandez

on November 8, 2011 at 1:28 PM

@2: He's also really, really hot. Clooney-hot.

Posted by karion on November 8, 2011 at 1:31 PM

Dodgeball on Ice!

Seriously though, curling would be great. The Alberta-raised bf would love it!

Posted by Subdued Excitement on November 8, 2011 at 1:34 PM

Michael-Douglas-hot, maybe, @11.

Posted by rob!

on November 8, 2011 at 1:37 PM

Hockey? Curling? Not happening. It's for public skating.

Posted by bigyaz on November 8, 2011 at 1:42 PM

@11 ha! (You need to update the prescription for your spectacles, dear.)

Malone's still got a rental listing up for one of his spare mansions, this one next to St. Marks - just $15,000 a month:
http://www.ewingandclark.com/properties/…

Posted by gloomy gus on November 8, 2011 at 1:44 PM

@13 - I may have overstated. I just find him startlingly sexy.

Posted by karion on November 8, 2011 at 1:46 PM

Hockey could probably happen if you make it happen. Not by barging on and taking out some little kid with a slapshot, but by lobbying the organizers of this rink now to set aside a night or afternoon here and there for hockey, like say Tuesday night 5pm til closing for pickup games.

Posted by SPG on November 8, 2011 at 1:48 PM

An average of 40 adults each hour is needed to break even...does that seem like it might be a bit optimistic...and maybe a bit crowded? (10ft x10ft per skater?) Hopefully not.

Posted by G g on November 8, 2011 at 1:50 PM

@ I sure hope so. It would suck to have something so groovy in the neighborhood taken over by hockey. Or curling (although curling is very cool). or, as someone mentioned, ice dodgeball.

Posted by genevieve on November 8, 2011 at 1:51 PM

@11, 13, 15, 16 - You're probably thinking of Michael Oaksmith rather than Michael Malone.

Posted by MacCrocodile

on November 8, 2011 at 1:51 PM

and seriously? How can someone work at the Stranger and not know how to spell CapitOl Hill?

Posted by genevieve on November 8, 2011 at 1:52 PM

They should serve beer. Otherwise it's gonna lose money.

Posted by DOUG.

on November 8, 2011 at 1:52 PM

@ 1, playing in Kent is not "leaving."

Posted by Matt from Denver on November 8, 2011 at 1:54 PM

@20 - you're just going to have to trust me on this. You can't see it in pictures, but the man is sexy as all get out. He just is. I can't explain it, but he has that elusive somethingsomething that makes a person hot.

Posted by karion on November 8, 2011 at 1:57 PM

@24 - Money?

Posted by MacCrocodile

on November 8, 2011 at 1:58 PM

@20, I was sure you were right - I'd never heard of Oaksmith but he has those Hollywood-bright teeth. Now @24 says no, she meant Malone, the one who looks like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the one who likes giving money to the Reicherts and Bush-Cheneys and Cathy McMorris Rodgers-es. Ah well.

Posted by gloomy gus on November 8, 2011 at 2:04 PM

@18, they're also getting support from Sound Transit and SKANSKA and a few local businesses including Elliott Bay and Blick.
http://capitolhillseattle.com/2011/11/08…

And you can rent the rink for your private use -- 2 hours runs $2k :)

But you can't play basketball -- rink will take over the Cal Anderson court for a couple weeks.

Posted by jseattle

on November 8, 2011 at 2:10 PM

Hockey on a 50' x 80' rink? Fergit it. That's < 1/4 of an NHL sized rink.

Posted by mollman on November 8, 2011 at 2:15 PM

next let's put in a ferris wheel!!! wheeee!!!!!!!!!

Posted by kylembelltown on November 8, 2011 at 2:37 PM

Cool!

Posted by Gurldoggie

on November 8, 2011 at 3:33 PM

@29, yeah, way too small, but it's ice in my neighborhood! Maybe just stick and puck for an hour or so...?

Posted by orange&black on November 8, 2011 at 3:44 PM

it's not real ice btw

Posted by taint on November 8, 2011 at 4:34 PM

@32 if it's that fakey plastic surface, then pffffttttttt. I ain't skatin on it.

Posted by SPG on November 8, 2011 at 5:26 PM

Capitol Hill Ice Rink will be offering FREE skating today from 11am to 3pm for anyone who wants to come down and give it a whirl! For more information about the rink visit http://www.capitolhillicerink.com/.

Posted by Marla on December 9, 2011 at 11:46 AM