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Parks & Rec Business
| Ice in the Sky The Washington Capitals unveil an indoor NHL training facility built on top of a parking garage By Helen Downey New ownership brings new ideas. When Ted Leonsis and his investment group, Lincoln Holdings LLC, bought the Washington Capitals Hockey Club in the summer of 1999, they identified one, immediate need-- find a home inside the Beltway for an NHL-caliber training center. Their hope was that by moving the training center from Piney Orchard, a planned community in Odenton, Md., to a space nearer their home ice at the Verizon Center in downtown Washington, D.C., the players would be a more-visible part of the community and provide the hometown with an economic boost. Like all new ideas, this one faced challenges, most notably finding inexpensive and available land in northern Virginia, one of the wealthiest/most expensive counties in the country., But not impossible—especially when you look up, not just out. Picking The Site In November 1999, Dick Patrick, the team president, hired George Parr, Senior Director of Operations for the Washington Capitals and Project Manager of the Kettler Capitals Iceplex, to locate a new training site. According to Parr, “I Helen Downeywas aware that there was a need for an ice skating rink inside the Beltway in northern Virginia, and I had the idea of putting the rink on top of the Ballston Common parking garage because of its size.” He knew that the footprint of the garage was 4.5 acres, which would be large enough to accommodate two full-sized ice rinks. But he didn’t know if the fifty-year-old garage could support the new construction. To test his idea, Parr contacted long-time friend and former business partner, Tom Newman, who was working as Director of the Real Estate Development Group for Arlington Economic Development. Newman commissioned a structural engineer study and found that the garage had originally been designed as an eight-level structure able to hold 3,000 cars, but, for whatever reason, only seven levels were finished. Even better, each level was just over four acres in size. Now they had definitive proof. There was enough room for the new rink, and it appeared the structure could be made to work. The Art Of The Deal--Financing Issues Two initial decisions helped move the project forward. First, the County of Arlington decided to have the Capitals act as the project developer and second, the county agreed to finance most of the project through the sale of bonds, backed by its moral obligation, to the tune of $6 million. The Capitals, in turn, signed a long-term lease on the facility, agreed to be responsible for covering the county’s bond-debt service, and contributed $1.2 million to upfront design and construction costs. With a handshake and signature, both parties agreed to move forward and avoided the unpleasant prospect of buying a more-expensive, close-in location. Design And Construction With financing secured, the project quickly moved from concept to planning stage. In September 2001, the Capitals hired Architecture Incorporated to finalize the design plan. By November of that same year, submitted plans for the site were approved, and the project was put out to bid, where it hit its first major hurdle. The combination of rapidly escalating steel prices, complex negotiations with multiple businesses holding parking rights in the garage, and the usual communication issues slowed the process. Eventually, quotes were finalized, documents were signed, and the 16-month construction of the Kettler Capitals Iceplex began. It was awe-inspiring in its reach and breathtaking in its complexity. Passers-by couldn’t say they didn’t know the Capitals were in town as day to day, the contractor hoisted equipment and supplies ninety feet in the air to build the eighth floor of the garage and install two rinks, a training center and office space. Along the way, the contractor and developer dealt with all those minor, unpredictable issues that come with any construction project. Looking back, the biggest challenge, according to Newman, was the age of the garage itself. “Because the parking garage below the ice rink was built fifty years prior, there was a mixture of building codes that spanned many decades. Since the newest construction was on the top deck, there needed to be a continuous flow of properly updated wiring, which was time-consuming.” But, it was worth it. Asked if there was anything he would change if he could, Parr commented, “Nothing. It’s beautiful!” Yes, it is. The new Iceplex totals 137,000 square feet and is home to a state-of-the-art training center (20,000 square feet), two NHL-sized ice rinks, Washington Capitals office space (20,000 square feet), a fully stocked pro shop, snack bar, party rooms and meeting rooms. Even the rink floor is spectacular--it features paced refrigeration with a 210-ton ammonia indirect system--which means great ice, all the time. No expense was spared in designing and building this wonderful facility situated amid the neighboring eighteen-story condominiums and twelve-story office buildings. That’s not entirely true; cost, and especially value, were a big concern to all the parties involved-- for the county, for the Capitals and for the residents of Ballston, Va., and Washington, D.C. By the club’s moving the training center from the suburbs into downtown, the Capitals players and staff moved into the community, the county acquired its own professional sports team, the residents had a new amenity, and the nearby merchants, folks like the owners of Ballston Mall, got an economic boost. In short, everybody’s happy with a job well done. Helen Downey is a freelance writer and regular contributor to Parks & Rec Business. She can be reached via e-mail at hcdowney@adelphia.net. |
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