MORGANTOWN — It was January 26, 2017.
Hockey players and figure skaters sat with their parents beside curious community members, the BOPARC board and staff – and at least one representative from the press – in the Marilla Center to pose a question that would ultimately take nearly eight years to answer:
What’s to become of the Morgantown Ice Arena?
At long last, we’re about to find out.
Earlier this month, contractor Lombardi officially took over the 46-year-old arena to begin fulfilling its $3.15 million renovation contract with BOPARC.
The improvements will consist of upgraded mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, a new building exterior, a new roof, an improved dasher board system, new party rooms, rubberized flooring and other ice-related amenities in addition to the installation of the new chiller and dehumidification systems.
“So far, so good,” BOPARC Executive Director Melissa Wiles told The Dominion Post. “We had our first progress meeting this week and will continue those on a weekly basis for the most of the project’s duration.”
Wiles said this initial phase of work is “very demolition-heavy” with a focus on pulling down the old building’s glass and dasher board panels.
“As we move through the spring, you’ll start to see the roof replacement work and internal upgrades to the main portion of the rink,” she said.
Everything still looks good for a fall completion date, though Wiles cautions, “We are very early in the process.”
As it turns out, the start of construction came almost exactly two years after ballooning costs and stakeholder pushback prompted an 11th-hour decision to pull the plug on a nearly $15 million project that would have stripped the building down to its wooden skeleton and rebuilt it from the ground up.
At that point, BOPARC basically started over with a scaled back plan to focus on improvements conducive to community use instead of competitive hockey, which will move to a facility under construction at Mylan Park.
Omni Associates was hired for $355,400 in March 2024 to steer the project to completion. The overall cost is expected to come in at or below $4 million.
“I know that we are all super excited to get this project kicked off,” Wiles said. “It has been a long journey, and we are looking forward to seeing these improvements unfold.”
