The rooftop sports “bubble” is a familiar sight across New York City. Those white, heated half-domes are customary accoutrements atop gyms and exclusive tennis clubs, but the one that just officially opened at 47-32 32nd Place in Long Island City is a bit different.
For starters, it’s freezing – literally – and hockey players, recreational skaters and figure skaters alike have Erik Ekstein to thank.
Ekstein and a partner purchased an old printing factory a few years ago and began converting it into what would become City Ice Pavilion – the only rooftop skating rink in the five boroughs, Ekstein likes to say.
At 34,000-square-feet, the bubble contains a regulation National Hockey League (NHL)-size rink above a series of locker rooms, party spaces, a café, a pro shop and parking lots.
“What could I do on this expansive rooftop?” Ekstein, the founder and president of Ekstein Development, recalled wondering a few years ago. To this lifelong hockey fan and former player, the answer was easy.
“There weren’t many [ice rinks] in the community – certainly not in Queens,” Ekstein said at the November 19 grand opening of the Pavilion. He added that ice time was hard to come by for local hockey players, especially in a city that only boasts a few rinks that are enclosed and protected from the elements.
Finding a time slot does not appear to be an issue at Ekstein’s rink, which he has dubbed “The home of hockey.”
On opening night – a ceremonial event, as the rink has been in use since late 2008 – City Councilmember-elect James Van Bramer and a Madison Square Garden Sports executive were among those who welcomed the new rink, as youngsters with pint-sized hockey sticks chased pucks across the ice. A group of the young skaters would later participate in a clinic with New Yorker Rangers defenseman Michael Del Zotto.
In fact, the Pavilion is one of 30 local “partnership rinks” of the New York Rangers, and is home to 30 adult and 15 youth teams – numbers that are growing, according to Ekstein.
However, The facility is not all hockey. Its schedule includes learn-to-skate programs in free skating and figure skating, as well as synchronized instruction. The facility also opens up for recreational skating throughout the week.
As a little girl and her coach practiced a figure skating routine on the ice, Olympic gold medalist Oksana Baiul made her way to the microphone, praising skating and other sports for the courage and self-awareness they impart on youngsters.
“My passion, my love is figure skating,” said Baiul, the 1994 Olympic champion, who later enchanted the crowd with a routine, set to music, of spins and axels. “I’ve been doing this since I was three-and-a-half years old.”
The Pavilion has instruction for kids just as young, a few of whom appeared to be gliding gracefully across the ice on opening night.
Jon Petak, of Bergen County, NJ, brought his son Noah to the Pavilion for the clinic with Del Zotto.
“He was all excited.” Petak said, adding with a laugh that his son hoped to get some pointers “even though he’s only eight.”
Petak stood in the bleachers and proudly pointed out his son before taking a measurement on the rooftop rink itself.
“It’s great, it’s beautiful, it’s awesome,” he said. But Petak’s most important compliment came next.
“And I hear the ice is excellent.”
