Sunday, November 17, 2019

Skating Club Slipping Out of Boston

From Dave Brigham:

For 80 years the Skating Club of Boston has called this facility in Allston home. I've never skated here but I love the building and the fact that the club's history goes back to 1912, making it the third oldest skating club in continuous existence in the U.S., per the club's web site. Of course, I wouldn't be writing about this Quonset hut-style building if change weren't in the air. Or on the ice, as it were.

In May of this year, the Club announced a plan to build a $37 million facility in Norwood, about 25 miles south of Boston. Located on the former site of the Lost Brook Golf Club, the 180,000 square-foot facility will include three rinks (one of which is a 2,500-seat performance center), a dance studio, a training center, an apparel and equipment store and much more. The club hopes to move in next July.

"To finance the purchase, the club sold the land it owned next to its current Allston location for $14 million and then sold its current location for $26 million," per the above-linked Boston Business Journal article. "The club will continue to operate out of the 1240 Soldier’s Field Road facility until the new building is ready," which will be some time next year.

The rink's current site was acquired by real estate developer/investor/manager the Davis Companies, whose portfolio includes the Reservoir Woods office complex in Waltham, residential development The Mark in Boston and the Alewife Research Center in Cambridge. I'm guessing this site will become apartments with retail on the ground floor.

With three rinks, the skating club is gonna need a bigger Zamboni.

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