Irvine’s Ice Age Comes to an End

Behind $450,000 in rent and mired in other financial troubles, the Irvine Ice Arena shut down Thursday evening as a synagogue prepared to complete its purchase of the property.

“There goes my office,” arena hockey director Mike Jones said as he carried his belongings from the red, barn-like building into his car.

The ice rink was decorated for the occasion with balloons and streamers. Workers carried out the soft-drink vending machine, and others packed up the sports shop. A slap shot away, 100 people were spending their afternoon getting in a final skate, doing the old reliables--the hokey pokey, the chicken dance and the Macarena.

“This whole thing is like a death to me,” said Linda Coonan, who operated the rink with her husband Steve.

University Synagogue, a Reconstructionist congregation that after 10 years has outgrown its rented space at Irvine United Church of Christ, expects to close escrow on the 38,000-square-foot building in a few weeks, temple president Art Lipton said.

Lipton has declined to say how much the synagogue is paying for the land, but the Coonans said the sale price for the property, owned by Irvine Recreation Park, was $6.4 million.

The closing of the arena means that young hockey players and figure skaters who regularly practiced there will have to find another rink. Other Orange County rinks already have seen their business increase as the closing of the Irvine arena looked increasingly inevitable.

Jones said 165 youths from 7 to 18 years old participated in his hockey teams and took instruction. About 900 children took figure skating lessons during the winter.

Once the 440-family University Synagogue takes over, it will need final plan approvals and permits from the city. Lipton said the temple hopes work will be finished in time for High Holy Day services in about a year.

The sale of the ice rink might have gone relatively unnoticed had it not been for the public opposition of its operators and their supporters, using tactics that led to accusations of anti-Semitism. They circulated petitions calling on the City Council to rezone the property to prohibit churches and posted fliers that said “University Synagogue” with a slash through it--the international symbol for “prohibited.”

The most upsetting incident, said congregation members, was arriving for services one Friday night and encountering protesters with picket signs and American flags.

The owners of the ice rink, under the corporate name AAA Adventures Inc., were in serious financial trouble, despite being one of the highest grossing facilities of its size in the country. Steve Coonan said an unfavorable bank loan he had been unable to refinance had led to the financial troubles. He also said that annual revenues were $600,000 less than expected.

The ice arena’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, filed in Santa Ana, estimates both its assets and its debts at between $1 million and $10 million.

In addition, Irvine Recreation Park filed two lawsuits against the rink owner, one an eviction, the other a claim for back rent. The landowner terminated the lease Feb. 18.

Attorneys for the landowners did not return calls Thursday.

The failure of the ice rink has pushed the Irvine City Council to establish a task force to seek land and money for athletic activities. The task force, which met for the first time this week, includes Mayor Christina L. Shea, City Councilman Larry Agran, Asst. City Manager Judy Vonada and representatives from the South Orange County Community College District and the Irvine Co. Agran said the Irvine Unified School District has agreed to join the task force, but the Irvine Regional Water District has declined to participate.

“While this whole inquiry has been inspired in large part by the demise of the ice arena, we want to be sure we undertake this review in the broadest terms,” Agran said.

On Thursday, figure skating director Juliette Harton continued teaching her students as the arena’s final hours ticked down.

“[Teaching] makes the closing less painful,” she said.

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Staff photographer Geraldine Wilkins contributed to this report.

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From Rink to Temple

The former Irvine Ice Arena, which closed Thursday, is being bought by University Synagogue and will be converted into a temple.