HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — On Thursday, the Huntsville City Council gave the green light on a $44.6 million construction contract with ARCO/Murray National Holdings, Inc. for an expansion of the Huntsville Ice Sports Center.
The expansion will more than double the size of the facility as a whole, adding 118,822 square feet to the existing 83,934-square-foot facility.
The expansion will include a new ice arena with room for 1,254 people in the stands, a second sheet of ice with 5 curling lanes, new locker rooms, ADA-compliant elevators & seating, updated concessions and common areas.
About a dozen members of the Rocket City Curling Club were present at the City Council meeting on Thursday to get a closer look at the plans for the Huntsville Ice Sports Center.
Ice Chairman Stephen Johnston told News 19 that they are “very excited.”
“It was the perfect timing,” he said. Johnston told News 19 that since the Rocket City Curling Club was founded in 2018, it’s consistently grown.
He said the club is thrilled to have a new curling center with its own entrance, a warming room, and, most importantly, a dedicated sheet of ice.
“When you have dedicated curling ice, the ice is at a quality 10 times what it is for arena curling,” he said.
He said that by having 5 designated curling lanes, this will open the door for Huntsville to become a destination for the sport.
“It’s going to be huge for Huntsville, it’s going to be huge for the area, for the region, because with that size of a facility we’ll be able to host regional events, Olympic qualifiers,” he said. Johnston also said that this will be the best facility for curling in the southeast.
The new facility also solves the club’s biggest issue right now of not having enough time and space for everyone.
“Currently, we only have about 2 to 3 % of ice time because of hockey and figure skating, so this will allow us to expand our leagues,” he said.
Johnston said the club has 140 members, but only capacity for about 80. He said with more space, the club hopes to get membership closer to 300 people and start up leagues for kids, seniors, and a wheelchair league.
“All kinds of things we weren’t able to do before because of our limited capacity,” he said.
On Thursday, Huntsville city leaders said that they expect construction on the expansion to get started soon. They expect work to be completed by late 2026 or early 2027.
You can find out more about those plans here, and you can find out more about the Rocket City Curling Club here.
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