By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
BATTERY PARK CITY — The popular ice rink that debuted last year on the Battery Park City ballfields may not return.
The company that ran the rink last year decided not to come back, and the Battery Park City Authority is having trouble finding a new operator.
The authority solicited bids for a rink manager, but just one company responded by the time proposals were due at the end of September, said Leticia Remauro, spokeswoman for the authority.
The authority is rapidly negotiating with that company, which Remauro declined to name, but it may not be possible to strike a deal in time for the rink to open this season, Remauro said.
Battery Park City residents overwhelmingly want the rink to return.
“It was a really fun place for kids to hang out,” said Jeff Mihok, 43, whose daughters frequented the rink last summer. “It’s a nice amenity to have in the neighborhood. And it seems like a waste not to use the fields for five months.”
Rink Management Services, which ran the rink last year, offered everything from skating classes and hockey clinics to Zamboni driving lessons for adults.
Under its contract with the authority, Rink Management Services was supposed to pay at least $60,000 a year to run the rink for six years.
But the company struggled to turn a profit last year, as bad weather and construction mishaps at adjacent buildings shut the rink down several times during the winter. Falling glass from the new Goldman Sachs tower closed the rink on its opening day in November, and a piece of plywood that fell from the Liberty Luxe and Liberty Green construction closed the rink again in January.
Remauro said the authority and Rink Management Services mutually agreed to part ways.
Rink Management Services, the self-described largest rink operator in the United States, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The authority will make a decision about the rink within the next two weeks. Remauro said local residents who want the rink to return should e-mail her at leticia.remauro@batteryparkcity.org.
