Pettit National Ice Center

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The Pettit National Ice Center is an indoor ice skating facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, featuring two international-size ice rinks and a 400-meter speed skating oval. It opened on December 31, 1992, and is named for Milwaukee philanthropists Jane and Lloyd Pettit. Wisconsin State Fair Park owns the land and the building, but the Pettit National Ice Center Inc., a non-profit corporation, has operated the site since the facility opened.^[1]

The Pettit replaced, and was constructed on land once occupied by, the Wisconsin Olympic Ice Rink. That outdoor facility was in operation from 1967 to 1991. The indoor, climate-controlled Pettit was a major improvement and continues to attract many skating athletes from around the world.

1 The rink
- 1.1 Facility statistics
2 Possible sale of the Center
3 External links
4 References

[edit] The rink

The Pettit is one of only eleven indoor 400-meter ovals in the world, and is an official US Olympic training facility. ^[2]The Pettit has hosted numerous skating competitions, including the National Short and Long Track Speed Skating Championships, the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships, and the U.S. Olympic Speed Skating Time Trials.

The rink also hosts a skating school, and offers classes for children and adults in figure skating, hockey, and speed skating.

Olympic speed skating gold medallists Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen were the rink's first skaters.

[edit] Facility statistics

$13 million facility
Area:
- 200,000 square feet (18,600 m²) — total building
- 155,000 square feet (14,400 m²) — arena
97,000 square feet (9,000 m²) of total ice
400-meter oval designed for long track speed skating
Two International-sized (100' x 200', or 30 m x 60 m) rinks for hockey, figure skating, and short track speed skating
450-meter, two-lane jogging track surrounding the ice oval
150-capacity Hall of Fame lounge over-looking the ice arena
Skate rental facilities with figure, hockey and speed skates

[edit] Possible sale of the Center

The Pettit Center’s expenses have exceeded revenues since 2001, so $1.3 million is owed to State Fair Park in past-due rent. As a result of the burden placed on the park, the State Fair Park Board resolved in 2005 to sell the Pettit Center. According to a 2006 audit of the park, selling the ice facility would eliminate debt service, municipal service, and other costs the park incurs on its behalf, as well as future liability for major capital improvements to the aging facility. Pettit Center officials believe that owning the facility will improve their fund-raising abilities and reduce expenses.^[1]

On August 9, 2006, the Wisconsin Building Commission approved a $5.6 million sale of the building to the non-profit organization. The board of directors hope to finance the purchase with $3 million in private donations, most of which would come from the Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation, and another $2 million in loans. The State Fair Park Board plans to forgive $1 million in back rent that the center has accrued over the years.^[3]

However, the commission acted on the sale without the use of a public bid and did not follow a report by real estate consultant Equis proposing to compile a list of five investors interested in buying the facility.

Included in that list may have been Rink Management Services Corp., the nation's largest operator of ice skating facilities in the country. The company's president said he was interested in bidding to operate the rink or even to buy it outright.

According to one state official, the state chose to ignore the Equis report because it suggested using the Pettit site for other new development, such as a big-box retailer, instead of continued use as a skating facility.^[4]

Further hurdles for the sale came from the state Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, which on August 25, 2006, said it needed to approve the sale,^[5] and three days later said the Building Commission had no authority to sell the rink in the first place, but rather that the Finance Committee itself had jurisdiction over the sale. A report by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, a non-partisan agency, concurred.

Finance Committee Co-chair Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican state senator from Juneau, Wisconsin, said he planned to hold a hearing regarding the sale to determine whether the Building Commission's plan was the best deal for the state. Fitzgerald said prime concern was "why this wasn't bid out and why weren't there numerous proposals before the commission?"^[6]