Ice rink still up in the air

Jennifer Kho

MESA VERDE -- It could take a group of former Ice Chalet customers

longer than anticipated to open a new ice skating rink in Costa Mesa.

Representatives for Mesa Verde Partners -- the Segerstrom-family

company that owns the Mesa Verde Center in which the Ice Chalet building

is located -- said they have yet to begin negotiations with the group of

former Ice Chalet customers.

Gene Moriarty, managing partner of Mesa Verde Partners and general

manager of Mesa Verde Center, said he hasn’t even received a proposal

from the group.

“I’ve got lots of different proposals for [the former Ice Chalet

location,] but we haven’t got anything from them,” Moriarty said

Thursday. “We’re actually not negotiating with anybody right now. A lot

of different people have come up with everything they can think of to do

with the place and we, the owners, have not yet decided what to do with

it. It would be nice if people would just leave us alone and let us

decide.”

The Mesa Verde Center skating rink, a community fixture and training

ground for Olympic ice skaters for almost 30 years, closed in January.

A group of the rink’s former customers has been trying to open a new

community rink since the closure and is considering many options,

including reopening the closed rink temporarily and running it as a

nonprofit organization.

David Martinez, spokesman for the group, told City Council members at

a Feb. 20 meeting that the group was “in negotiations” with Mesa Verde

Partners.

At the meeting, Martinez also said the group could reach an agreement

with the landowner within the next few weeks.

On Thursday, Martinez said he was telling the truth when he claimed to

be negotiating for the rink space.

“It just depends on how you want to define ‘negotiations,”’ Martinez

said. “We’re in constant contact and have a meeting set up. Our little

group is just moving forward in a very professional way, as far as trying

to get funding and form a nonprofit organization.”

Martinez admitted the group has not yet submitted any plans to Mesa

Verde Partners, adding that group members are “up to our necks in

paperwork.”

“We’re working out the nuts and bolts of the development,” he said.

“There’s just an extensive amount of work and, right now, everyone is

volunteering their time and resources.”