The United States' largest curling club will take over a shuttered ice arena in St. Paul to see if it can help deal with high demand and a lack of space.
The Biff Adams Ice Arena, owned by Ramsey County and shut down this year, had been eyed as a tennis facility by the nonprofit St. Paul Urban Tennis Program, but the group is passing because the building's ceiling is too low.
Enter the St. Paul Curling Club, the nation's largest with 1,180 members. It reached a deal with the county that allows the club to alter the ice surface, which had been used primarily for youth and high school hockey, and to use it through March 2011.
The curling club won't pay rent, but it will be responsible for utility bills and managing the rink. The club also will pay the county $7,000 to start up the refrigeration unit now and shut it down in spring.
On Tuesday, the County Board unanimously approved the agreement.
The club has been in its building near Mackubin Street and Selby Avenue since 1912 and will continue to operate there as well. Biff Adams, at Western and Minnehaha Avenues in Frogtown, is about a mile away.
"We've been nearing full capacity for a few years now," said Bob Hedstrom, club president.
The club will be able to fit five "sheets" of ice into the Biff Adams rink. Up to 300 new curlers could be accommodated, said club board member Greg Walsh.
The club and county will see how things go and talk about what might happen next in March.
The county has been reviewing the status of its ice arenas because of new suburban rinks and declining demand. It closed Biff Adams this year because it lost its users.
CHRIS HAVENS
