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By Alan Snel, LVportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The city of Las Vegas has already received its first proposal from a company that wants to build an ice rink facility on an empty five-acre city-owned site in the northwest section of the city, Councilwoman Francis Allen-Palenske told LVSportsBiz.com Tuesday.
The city has extended its request for proposal (RFP) process deadline by eight weeks to June 15 to accommodate the interest in this ice rink project, Allen-Palenske said. The location is at North Hualapai Way and West Deer Springs Way.
“We’re overjoyed with the interest,” she said.
With the Vegas Golden Knights celebrating their tenth campaign in Sin City in 2027 and the sport of hockey taking root in the desert, the city is looking to have a facility with two sheets of ice for kids of all ages who can play hockey and figure-skate.
Allen-Palenske said that section of Las Vegas needs an ice facility because the closest sheets of ice are at City National Arena in Summerlin. There are 3,500 homes coming on line in that area and she said the feedback she gets is that residents want more recreational resources.
She noted the ice rink facility can be the first part of an overall sports complex in that area because there is federal land on both the east and west sides of the site. Allen-Palenske envisions the ice rinks spurring development next-door like a retail sports store.
The Vegas Golden Knights have built youth hockey into its marketing plans and have supported kids playing the sport in this market because they are potential future season ticket holders.
In an October interview with LVSportsBiz.com, VGK President of Business Operations John Penhollow said the Las Vegas market needs four to eight more sheets of ice for youth hockey.
In an email to LVSportsBiz.com Tuesday, Penhollow said the Golden Knights will not be submitting a proposal to build an ice facility in NW Las Vegas.
“You have to have access” to ice, Penhollow, a hockey dad, said at the time. “You can play basketball at most parks. You need an open grass field for football. Hockey’s the one that you have to have facilities.”
Allen-Palenske said she talked informally with former VGK team president Kerry Bubolz more than two years ago about an ice facility in northwest Las Vegas.
But with the RFP process now underway, she said she cannot discuss specific developers or submitted proposals.
PSA