‘We had to take a bold step’: Elk Grove Village provides $27 million loan to ice rink developer
Elk Grove Village will give a developer a $27 million zero-interest loan to help pay for the indoor ice rink now taking shape on the west side of town.
Nick Papanicholas Jr., of Mount Prospect-based development firms Nicholas & Associates Inc. and Wingspan Development Group, will have 20 years to pay back the loan, under terms of a redevelopment agreement he inked with the village board.
Papanicholas, who recently opened an ice rink in Rosemont and also owns rinks in Mount Prospect and Vernon Hills, included a personal guarantee declaration in the set of real estate documents approved by village trustees last week.
They also signed off on the sale of the 9.7-acre property on the northwest corner of Meacham and Biesterfield roads to Papanicholas for $4.5 million. The village purchased the property for the same amount last January from four limited liability companies that long controlled the site.
Also part of the sale — for a dollar each — are two retail outlots that Papanicholas will lease to food service users, according to Mayor Craig Johnson.
The village is fronting the $27 million — coming from general fund reserves — to kick-start the project and with the hope of future sales tax proceeds generated by the redevelopment, the mayor said.
“That area for 30-something years has been like a desert,” Johnson said. “So we had to take a bold step. And it’s not like we’re doing this with someone who’s never done it before.”
Since the developer and village formally announced the long-rumored project in July, demolition has been completed on a former Aldi grocery store and Staples office supplies store. The wall by the neighboring Home Depot has been shored up, and walls for new ice rink already are being erected.
The 72,560-square-foot, twin-sheet ice arena will include an 8,814-square-foot second floor restaurant, a 1,128-square-foot ground level grab-and-go store, study areas and physical therapy clinic.
It’s slightly smaller than the $34.5 million, 103,000-square-foot ice rink Papanicholas opened earlier this month in Rosemont; that building is owned by the village and serves as the new practice headquarters for the Chicago Wolves.
Not including the purchase price, the Elk Grove ice arena is expected to cost $28 million, according to the project budget. Papanicholas must submit monthly certificates of reimbursable costs to village hall to receive loan proceeds for the project work.
A loan repayment schedule shows the developer will pay the village $800,000 a year in years 1-5, then $1 million annually in years 6-10, $1.1 million annually in years 11-15, $1.2 million annually in years 16-20, and then is required to pay off the remaining $6.5 million balance.
The rink will provide ice time for a number of suburban youth hockey groups, including Chicago Mission and Northwest Chargers.
The facility is set to open in August 2026.
Papanicholas’ companies also are behind The Vue mixed-use redevelopment under construction on the east side of Elk Grove Village at Arlington Heights and Higgins roads.