The city of Madison’s Common Council approved an agreement at its Jan. 14 meeting that will keep two popular ice arenas in Madison open and address the outstanding debt owed to the city. The ice arenas serve a number of ice sport organizations and have around 400,000 combined visitors per year.
Under the agreement, ownership and operation of the Hartmeyer Ice Arena on the north side of Madison will be transferred from Madison Ice Inc. to a new nonprofit, the East Madison Ice Collective (EMIC), which will lead a new fundraising effort to raise $3 million in private funds to replace the arena’s roof, as well as new chiller, HVAC, and compressor equipment and upgraded electric transformers.
Madison Ice Inc. has owned both the Hartmeyer Ice Arena and the Madison Ice Arena on the city’s west side since 2004, when the city sold both properties to the nonprofit through a land contract. Prior to the sale, the city owned and operated both facilities for many years. The subsidy for the arenas was approaching $250,000 annually. In addition to paying operating expenses for the past two decades, Madison Ice Inc. has spent around $5 million in facility maintenance and other capital improvements while making payments to the city.
Starting in 2020, a global pandemic, increasing operating costs, and the need for major facility improvements jeopardized the ability of Madison Ice Inc. to successfully operate the ice arenas. This prompted Madison Ice Inc., the arena’s users, and the city’s Economic Development Division to seek a new solution that would keep the ice arenas as community-run assets while also limiting the impact on Madison taxpayers. The agreement approved by the Common Council is a framework for reaching those goals, which includes strict conditions to ensure compliance.
