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They could call it Apartments on Ice: Developer proposes hundreds of residential units on Skating Club of Boston site in Allston
By adamg on Thu, 02/20/2020 - 10:21pm
A developer has told the BPDA it will soon submit plans to replace the Skating Club of Boston at 1240 Soldiers Field Rd. with a 535-unit apartment building - and to raze the neighboring Studio Allston Hotel with an even newer hotel - and 120 condos.
The Davis Companies, headquartered downtown, says it is planning 405 parking spaces in total for the new buildings - and a new road to go between them.
The skating club is having a new facility built in Norwood.
In its letter of intent to the BPDA, the developer says the work will include nearly 1.7 acres of "open space available to the public."
In addition to the apartments on the former skating-club site, Davis is proposing 10,500 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. The new hotel would have roughly 255 rooms.
The project is the latest proposal for Soldiers Field Road. A developer recently proposed building new studios for WBZ. Another developer has proposed a 106-unit apartment building at the ramp from Soldiers Field Road to Brighton.
1234-1240 Soldiers Field Rd. letter of intent (378k PDF).
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Comments
Who are the clients of the Skating Club?
Allston to Norwood is a huge shift in terms of communities served. Or given the relatively small number of rinks and limited ice time, do skaters and hockey players always just assume they'll need to drive a long way early in the morning as needed to get ice time?
Valid question
It seems like they are working with a pretty elite clientele. Chances are people already travel from places well way from Allston to train there.
Related: The new facility on University Ave will have 3 rinks! From The Patch:
Its definitely a mixture. My
Its definitely a mixture. My son did learn to skate there, and there were a good number of Allston/Brighton kids, including people who walked or took the 86.
That being said I assume the upper levels are more in line with the more elite clientle.
Its to bad, because there prices were reasonable, less than Warrior or Daly, and while there were definitely some "I brought my child to learn here because I want them to be an olympion" type parents, the instructors seemed good at working with kids of all kinds and backgrounds.
Think "The Country Club" for ice skating
The Skating Club of Boston is a private skating club -- it's members could be from nearly anywhere in Greater Boston. It is most unlikely that any of them walk to Soldiers Field Road to skate.
When it began the then "Back Bay Skating Club" skated on Hammond Pond until the old Boston Arena was built in 1909 [site of the current Northeastern U, Mathews Arena]. "The Skating Club of Boston" incorporated in 1911/1912 -- the third such club in the U.S. after Philadelphia and Cambridge. Their current home was built in 1938 although it has been renovated numerous times.
The Club has been around long enough that one of their members won the Ladies Figure Skating Gold Medal before it was imaginable that ladies would do any jumping. A bit later another member won the Ladies Olympic Figure Skating Gold and then went on to have a career as a famous Surgeon. One of the club's men landed the first Tripple Jump of any kind in competition and then won Olympic Gold a couple of times before becoming a Figure Skating commentator for a generation.
https://thenext100years.org/skating-club-of-boston/the-clubs-storied-his...
https://scboston.org/about/club-history/#1515690213149-1e9a2c6a-0af8
PS: Before anyone starts dumping on them as elitist -- they also originally organized and still operate the annual public Skating on the Frog Pond for the City of Boston. They also conduct a Skating Academy to rigorous Figure Skating Standards at a number of suburban locations and at the Boston Frog Pond
Some People are Just Too Envious
The Skating Club has a right to exist for its members in whatever form they choose, although they aren't exclusively for the wealthy. The same can be said for the Myopia Hunt Club, The Country Club, the Wollaston Golf Club, or any other privately-owned and funded club or recreational facility. I'm fine with a dog from Sullivan's and a walk around Castle Island, because that's what I can afford.
Boston Arena / Matthews Arena
It's actually the *same* arena building. Renamed, and most likely renovated at least once, but never demolished and replaced.
There used to be a nice
There used to be a nice outdoor rink in Walpole on 27 heading towards Medfield wonder if it is still there .
The figure skaters and
The figure skaters and families who travel to the current location will continue to travel to the new location. The Club focuses exclusively on figure skating, no hockey. Which is nice for kids who want to practice without kids skating hockey style charging at them aggressively on the ice as they are practicing. The Skating Club has many satellite locations, so I gather if there are other locations that is more convenient for the “learn to skate” parents they will choose one of those locations. Parents of skilled skaters will drive a further distance as with any other sport. I’m looking forward to the Norwood location, as it will be closer to my home.
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Background
Check out the Skating Club's website: . They are interested in figure skating, no hockey. I'm guessing that many (most?) of their members come from the suburbs. The current location is central and convenient to the Mass. Pike. The Norwood location will work for members from the South Shore and western suburbs, but will put North Shore members at a disadvantage.
The website indicates that the new facility will be a significant expansion from what they have now.
The hotel is not new. The building has been there for decades and has had many hotel brands over time. It was recently refurbished. The Skating Club website indicates that the club owns the land on which the hotel is built, and that the hotel is a long-term lessee.
It appears that they reached agreement with the developer 3 years ago, early in 2017, and that the funds from the sale of the current property will be used towards building their new facility.