Atlantic City, N.J. (April 26, 2023) – City of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small, Sr. called a news conference, today, at the Atlantic City Skate Zone to announce the facility will continue to operate as an ice skating rink for the foreseeable future.
The building, located on city property, used to be under Casino Reinvestment Development Authority control, per a lease agreement. The CRDA subleased the property to Comcast, who hired another company to run the day-to-day operations of the facility as the Flyers Skate Zone. Once that sublease agreement was terminated, by operation of the contractual terms, the building reverted to the city in April 2022. When the city inherited it, the facility needed serious repairs.
Upon the termination of the sublease last April, Mayor Small announced the Skate Zone would operate as an ice skating rink for one year. Over the last year, Mayor Small explored other options, including turning the facility into a roller rink, but announced, today, the facility would continue to operate as an ice skating rink as long as the city has possession of the property. In March, Mayor Small signed a Memorandum of Understanding with DEEM Enterprises for a $2.7 billion redevelopment project at Bader Field, where Skate Zone is located.
“I don’t know if it will be one year, two years, or five years, but I’m making a commitment as Mayor, my administration and I, within reason, will make sure these lights stay on, that we, to the best of our ability, fix all of the ill wills this building has had,” said Mayor Small. “We have the best grants administrator (Jim Rutala) in the world, we’ll go looking for funding and other things, but this will stay open. Hopefully we can recruit more kids from Atlantic City.”
In 2022, Skate Zone brought in $309,901 in revenue to the city with $463,101 in expenses, for a loss of $153,200. So far in 2023, Skate Zone brought in $208,991 in revenue to the city with $96,205 in expenses for a profit of $112,786. Salaries are included in the expenses.
“We have a great group of volunteers and workers who are constantly out there trying to bring additional business into the Skate Zone, so I’m hopeful that 2023 will paint a different picture,” said City of Atlantic City Chief Financial Officer Toro Aboderin.
“Hopefully we can get those financial numbers up and make the city proud they are investing in this place,” said Jenny Gleghorn, President of Atlantic City Sharks hockey. “Some of the things to look forward to in the future, we are having more involvement with Atlantic City Figure Skating organization, where people can attend and watch their shows. We’re hoping to have more ice hockey organizations here, more tournaments.”
Open public skate sessions will continue on Friday nights at Skate Zone. The Skate Zone schedule is available on the City of Atlantic City website, acnj.gov.
