Neighbors of a proposed 22-acre indoor sports multiplex that would include four tournament-sized ice rinks persuaded county commissioners on July 28 to freeze construction plans and find a new location.
Commissioners voted to suspend conversations about Project Grace until Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Elliott Falcione and county staff can address concerns raised at the meeting by residents, including zoning, increased traffic and business terms.
The vote included language directing that the project be relocated to a yet-to-be-determined site within the county, insisted upon by Commissioner Bob McCann in response to neighbors who waited more than 10 hours to address their elected representatives and said that none of the 10 largest ice complexes in the U.S. were built so close to a residential neighborhood.
The $70 million to $80 million project was planned at the county-owned Premier Sports Campus North east of I-75 and north of S.R. 70, and promoted by county tourism officials as a tourist attraction and moneymaker for the county.
The complex is bigger than a Costco, Target or Walmart, said Shawne Pecar, of Cresswind, a 55 and older Lakewood Ranch neighborhood that backs up to the proposed project site.
“This is not what our community is supposed to look like,” she said, citing a 1,200-signature petition of like-minded neighbors, many dressed in red and some carrying signs saying “Move the rink megaplex. Good project… wrong place.”
“I beg you to move it,” Pecar said.
“I love hockey,” said self-described hockey mom Kathy Flora of Cresswind. But with traffic, lights, noise and environmental impacts, she suggested an industrial area for the project. “Maybe Lena Road. Near I-75.”
County Commission District 6 candidate Ed Ference read a portion of the Land Development Code to the board, saying it prohibited a project of that size in that location.
“Relocate it?” asked County Commission District 4 candidate Glen Gibellina. “Just get rid of it.”
Commissioners voted on June 16 for the county administrator to prepare an agreement to lease the land and set business terms and an operating agreement for commission consideration and eventual presentation to project developer Wesley Chapel-based IceMann Development LLC.
IceMann, which designed and managed TGH Iceplex, a practice facility for the Tampa Bay Lightning and is co-owner of AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel, anticipated breaking ground in January 2027 with a completion date of June-August 2028.
Playing monopoly
A competing Manatee County ice rink, Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex, 5309 29th St. E., stands to lose business if the new project is approved, according to some commissioners who expressed concern that being the landowner and leaseholder for IceMann’s Project Grace could give the project an unfair advantage.
Ellenton Ice, which has hosted Olympic figure skaters and hockey tournaments, has two NHL-size ice rinks, a 13,500-square-foot indoor roller/ball hockey rink, gym, fitness studio, dance studio, off-ice training gym and more.
Owner Matt Smith, who attended the hearing, said he is expanding to add a third sheet of ice to the business with no public funding.
“I think we need to reevaluate this and talk to our business owner in town who has a hockey rink to expand that,” Commissioner Jason Bearden said, pointing out that Project Grace would be subsidized by taxpayers, possibly giving it a competitive advantage. “Let’s restrategize this.”
If the county continues to support Project Grace, it would be competing with a private industry and could take Ellenton Ice out of business, creating a monopoly, he said.
Commission Chair Tal Siddique countered, asking if the county would be creating a monopoly by denying approval for Project Grace.
Siddique also questioned whether the commission would approve the project if it was on private land instead of county property.
“I have a hard time finding an argument for that,” he said. Without public subsidy, “I don’t see the evidence that this would stand on its own.”
Project Grace benefits
Project Grace, whose final naming rights are reserved to the developer with commission approval, would feature four ice rinks for tournaments in figure skating, ice hockey and curling with the ability to cover the ice for basketball, volleyball, cheer, dance, concerts and other uses, including a hurricane shelter.
The draft agreement ordered in June was to have IceMann build, operate, manage and maintain the complex under a 60-year ground lease with one 30-year extension option while the county retains land ownership. Rent would be $1 a year for the first three years, then $100,000 a year in the fourth year, with a 2% annual rent increase in year five and beyond. The county would receive 20% of the gross parking garage revenues after the developer recovered the cost of county impact fees.
Falcione told commissioners at the time that Project Grace would provide stable, year-round income to the county in the form of fees from the 800-space parking garage, producing at least $30 million a year in economic stimulus.
He also reported that up to $5 million in tourist tax revenues are available to reimburse IceMann for stormwater and parking infrastructure, with unanimous support from the Tourist Development Council, the county commission’s tourism advisory board.
Bearden criticized Falcione on July 28 for not consulting with neighbors in the early days of the project, which has been in progress for at least five years, and for what he called “blocking” him from direct access to people associated with the project.
Falcione did not attend the meeting; commissioners were told that he was out of town.
Cindy Lane is a staff writer for the Tampa Bay Beacons. She can be reached at clane@tbnweekly.com.