July 26, 2010 – It has been 5½ months since Prince William Ice Center collapsed and we have been busy with demolition of the old rink, preparing our insurance claim, and working on trying to rebuild our new rink. We want to bring everyone up-to-date on these activities and where things stand.

Last April, once demolition of our old rink was underway, we contracted with a design-build firm for a preliminary design and cost estimate for our rebuild project. At that time, we were targeting to reopen in the Fall of this year. We knew that this was an ambitious goal, but we felt that it was possible with an aggressive construction schedule and the outstanding support offered by Prince William County government departments. Through May and June we worked with our design contractor to develop a feasible preliminary design and cost estimate. We explored a variety of options for reconfiguring the facility and functions, however, despite many iterations on the design, this preliminary effort produced a cost estimate that far exceeded our budget as well as the numerous comparables we had for similar rinks built in the last several years. We continued to rework the design and cost estimate until mid-June, when we received very discouraging news from our contractor – there was no way to get the cost down enough and no way to open before the end of February, 2011.

With that news, we had two choices: 1) we could abandon the project and not rebuild, or 2) we could persist and explore alternatives with other contractors. Based on our strong commitment to rebuild and our firm belief that there is an affordable option, we decided on the second choice. We have since contacted several contractors who are working on new cost estimates. We expect to have these for review by mid-August. At that point, we will make a decision on how to proceed with our project. However, one thing is very clear at this point, and that is that we will not be able to open before Spring of next year.

It has been a long and exhausting struggle to get to this point. There have been many issues to deal with, including our insurance claim, the demolition of the rink, and site security – not to mention our rebuilding efforts. Through it all, Prince William County officials have been extremely supportive and helpful in our efforts, and our staff has also been extremely helpful as we moved through demolition and numerous site issues. Our original design-build firm took on a very challenging job with eagerness and commitment, and we’re very grateful for the advice and products we received from them. Finally, we want to thank the skating community for its support. It’s been frustrating for everyone who skated at PWIC. We remain optimistic that we will find a way to rebuild and we appreciate your patience as we continue to move ahead. We look forward to the time when we can bring a full-service year-round ice rink back to Prince William County and bring our skating community back ‘home’. Thank you for your support and continue to keep your fingers crossed that we will be able to rebuild an even better rink than before!

May 22, 2010 – We have been very busy since our last community update. Our old rink has been completely demolished and the land has been prepared for the next step – breaking ground for the new rink! Shown on the right is our “field of dreams” following demolition. Hot on the heels of demolition was a geo-tech survey, core sampling to determine the ability of the site to support our new building. The drill rig shown on the left was used to take eight core samples that are currently being analyzed. We will receive that report as part of a Site Plan that will be submitted to Prince William County in the next couple of weeks.

Our insurance claim continues to progress and we are now able to focus on our primary target – rebuilding Prince William Ice Center. While there is a lot that still must be done, we made tremendous progress in the last several weeks. Our lead architect and several key contractors met to discuss preliminary floor plans and the many details that go into designing a new two-sheet skating rink. Building codes have changed a lot since 1995, when the first rink was built and this means that we will have a much better and stronger building than our old rink – which will make all of us very happy!

Our design team met with representatives of Prince William County offices that oversee design, engineering, construction, permitting, and inspection relating to all aspects of the Virginia Building Code. We are receiving outstanding support from all of the Prince William County departments involved in overseeing our rebuilding effort. Everyone that we have met with has been incredibly encouraging and excited about our effort to rebuild. This is a collaborative effort to get our rink operating again as soon as possible and having such outstanding support across our county government will be the single biggest factor in our success.

One of the positive aspects of having to rebuild our rink is that we can take advantage of new energy efficient technologies and we plan to do just that. Many suppliers of rink equipment have joined the “Green Revolution”, and we’ll be implementing green products wherever we can in our new facility. Some might say we’ve already gone green, as the gaggle of geese on the right indicates. However, we’re headed in a different direction. Waste heat reclamation and use will be a central focus of our design, as will the use of sustainable products such as recycled plastic lumber, motion sensor lights and bathroom fixtures, energy efficient lighting, and recycled rubber flooring. We have already made several decisions that will positively influence all-important air quality in our new facility. We’ll announce the specifics of our plans over the next several months as we implement our decisions.

As we work on the new layout, we are also immersed in the details of planning: How will the bleachers be built? What kind of flooring will we be using? Where can we use sustainable materials and recycled products? How can we improve our locker rooms? How can we make the players’ benches more comfortable? Can we make navigating Skate Rental on Friday nights easier? What changes do we want to make to the Café and Pro Shop to make them more enjoyable and useful for our customers? We want the new facility to retain the characteristics that our community loved about the old rink, but to also include more modern approaches to serving our customers.

We are also actively engaged in thinking about new programming opportunities to take advantage of aspects of our new building. We at Prince William Ice Center are very excited about the new ideas and opportunities that we now have to try new ice activities. We will keep you posted on our plans both here and on our Twitter page. Once construction starts we will be able to focus more on our new program plans.

During the next several weeks, our design team will advance our plans to the point of establishing a Site Plan that we can present to the County for approval. Approval of that plan will allow us to begin site work and the grading necessary for rebuilding. We are also getting close to a final building design concept that we will submit to the County for review and will be the basis for ordering the new building’s frame and structure. Once that has been approved, we will be able to share our design with the community and give everyone a better idea of our schedule for reopening.

While there is still a lot to be done, we are encouraged by the rapid progress our team has made. We look forward to working with the Prince William County government and all of our ice sports community to bring Prince William Ice Center back to life.

On a separate note, several members of our Prince William Ice Center Team attended a recent rink conference and exposition. The event was sponsored by Serving The American Rinks (STAR), a non-profit association for facilities, individuals, and vendors in the ice rink industry. STAR was created in 2000 as a joint venture between U.S. Figure Skating and USA Hockey to “Foster the development, growth, and success of ice rinks in the United States." At the conference, STAR recognized our team and presented us with STAR’s 2010 Special Recognition Award. It was quite a surprise and an honor to receive the award, and came as testimony to the dedication of our staff and our commitment to rebuilding. We are certainly honored and thrilled to be recognized by STAR.