The ParkSide rink will remain open until the bitter end, and fans fervently hope to keep an arena in Pinellas Park.
By ANNE LINDBERG
Published May 2, 2004
PINELLAS PARK - Wander through ParkSide these days and signs of the mall's impending death are everywhere: Store closing. Fixtures for sale. 70 percent off.
NY Flava is going to Seminole Mall.
A sign at the cineplex reminds customers that it will remain open while the mall is rebuilt as the Shoppes at Park Place, a center reminiscent of the revamped Clearwater Mall.
But at the ice rink there are no signs. Skaters, parents and coaches hope something - anything - will happen to keep the rink open in Pinellas Park.
"It devastates me that they don't have anyplace to go after this place closes down," said Yvonne Perry, whose twin daughters, Amber and Chelsea, 9, skate at ParkSide. "If we could just find an investor to take this place over."
The rink, run by the Tampa Bay Skating Academy, has provided an activity to keep kids busy, Perry said, and allowed parents to develop friendships.
There are other rinks around the county - at the nearby ICOT center, and TBSA has two in north Pinellas County - but Perry said the other rinks are larger, so some of the friendly atmosphere is gone. Scheduling skating time and lessons is harder. And the commuting distance to the TBSA rinks would likely preclude taking her daughters to skate five days a week.
"The kids get along so well here. They are truly like family," Perry said. "I've made some of my best friends here."
But parents and coaches say the rink's popularity has suffered with publicity about the mall's scheduled closure on June 30, with demolition scheduled to begin the next day.
"It's been very stressful for the last six months," she said. "I can't even begin to explain it."
Coaches have been hurt financially. The number of students has halved, said Kirsten Hyland. New clients have become almost non-existent.
"We have people calling, (saying,) "Oh, my gosh, you're still open,"' Hyland said. "We just want everybody to know we're still open."
The rink will continue with lessons on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays through June 24. A five-week summer camp is scheduled for May 24 to June 25.
A final competition May 22-23 matches the ParkSide students against kids from ICOT and the TBSA's rinks at Countryside and Oldsmar.
The ParkSide kids won the 2004 Ice Skating Institute Winter Classic, beating 19 teams from across the country.
"This little rink has produced a lot of good kids," Hyland said.
If kids begin skating before the mall closes, they can continue their lessons at other TBSA venues, she said.
If parents like Perry have their way, there will be a new venue in Pinellas Park. About 800 kids and parents have signed a petition asking to keep the rink in the city.
Pinellas Park officials would be thrilled to have the rink stay here. Bud Wortendyke, the city's economic development director, said he's ready to help find a home.
But it will not be at the rejuvenated ParkSide.
John Sabow, director of development for Boulder Venture South LLC, the mall's owners, said he offered to give the rink to anyone who would reopen it nearby.
"Nobody came forth with a plan to do that," Sabow said.
Boulder Venture instead gave the equipment to Nick Flaskay, TBSA owner.
"Nick's taking it to open up another facility," Sabow said.
It is unclear where that might be. Flaskay did not return a phone message asking for comment.
Flaskay may have to decide soon. Sabow confirmed Friday that the mall is on schedule for demolition beginning July 1.
An estimated 500,000 to 600,000 cubic yards of dirt will be removed from the site to make it level, Sabow said.
"That's going to be quite an undertaking," Sabow said. "It's a huge amount of dirt."
Ironically, all that dirt was trucked onto the mall property when it was built in the late 1970s. The property was originally flat, like the land surrounding it.
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority bus stop, currently on the west side of the property behind the Home Depot, will have a temporary home along 70th Avenue N. Its permanent home also will be along 70th.
As for the names of the tenants, those are secret, Sabow said. Many of the contracts require that secrecy, he said, because the businesses prefer to let folks know of the new stores in their own time.
But leasing is going "extremely well," Sabow said. All the outparcels are taken and 275,000 square feet of the inner space is rented.
