A once-popular roller skating rink in Ulster County could be sold to the Town of Rochester.
Accord residents Stephen Apkon and Marcina Hale purchased Skate Time 209 in 2019 and renamed it Neighborhood 209. Given the pandemic’s pause, and then gradual restart of indoor activities, the owners were never able to use the property the way they imagined.
The owners approached local officials to give the Town of Rochester the opportunity to buy the facility. At the Sept. 2 board meeting, the town board adopted a resolution to enter into contract to purchase the property and its contents for $2,060,000 with a mandatory referendum vote.
If local residents vote on Dec. 7 to proceed with the purchase, the Town of Rochester would hire an architecture firm to envision a mixed-use public space, with designs for town hall offices alongside the skating rink.
“The town won’t be getting into the skating rink business,” said Town Supervisor Mike Baden, who added that the facility won’t be open seven days a week for skating.
The rink will remain intact, though, if the town does purchase the building, which allows for not only roller skating but roller hockey, basketball and an event space for dances, concerts, and other town events on occasion and in conjunction with the recreation department.
“It essentially would become our recreation center area,” said Baden.
Councilman Adam Paddock said at the town board meeting that “if the building does get sold to somebody else, it’s likely it won’t remain a recreational facility, it will become something else.”
The office space would be located where the former indoor skateboard park was. The skateboard park was removed by the current owners, and currently sits empty.
Baden said the town’s building condition survey last year found that building repairs or replacements would cost $5.9 million; he expects that the cost to rehab the property will be extensive. “We look at this as an investment in a newer building, and it gives us the opportunity to have many if not all of our centers in one place.”
As it stands, the resolutions include a $2,060,000 bond to enter into contract to purchase the 5.96-acre parcel of land with the building, which is appraised at $2,125,000.
“People ask how we can afford this, but the answer is we have a $5.9 million price tag to fix what we have, or we could get something newer and spend the same or less,” said Baden. If the town does make the purchase, it would be able to sell or rent its existing office spaces for revenue.
Although the town said it has no plans for the roller rink to be removed, some residents took to the community-based Nextdoor app to voice concerns about the skating rink’s future.
“That’s not the plan at all,” said Baden. “If we were to build a new space, we would not build a space this big. The plan is partially offices and partially recreation space.”
Some residents, like Hilton Purvis, are in favor of the purchase, specifically because it allows all of the town offices to be in one space.
“I’m excited for town hall to be under one roof,” said Purvis, who has been in the area for over 40 years. “It’s a win-win. You have the offices, and you have the skating rink still available for events and skating. That’s great.”
There will be two informational sessions held before the vote in December, however exact dates have not yet been determined. Baden said that ideally the sessions would be held at the property so community members could walk through the space and see how it could be reimagined for the town’s needs. Once scheduled, the meetings will be announced on the Town of Rochester site.
The vote will be held on Dec. 7 at the Harold Lipton Community Center between 12 noon and 9 p.m.
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