‘We view it as a trust’: Top Shelf Ice Arena in Gurnee snares $50K business grant

In what has become a continuing partnership, Top Shelf Ice Arena at Gurnee Mills will receive a $50,000 village contribution to reconfigure the interior entrance into an NHL-themed retail space.

Serving the hockey community and general public of all ages and abilities, Top Shelf is home of the Vipers, a prominent youth hockey travel organization serving northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

As proposed, the $180,000 project would reconfigure and open the interior entrance of mall to the ice arena. Grant recipients don’t get paid until the work is complete, normally within 18 months.

However, in this case, the business has 24 months to complete the project due to the scope and number of parties involved, according to the village.

“They continue to grow their programming and have been an entertainment destination for Gurnee Mills and Lake County as a whole,” Matt Trujillo, community engagement coordinator, explained to the village board.

Two types of village grants are available: Impact grants up to $20,000 per business and transformational grants up to $50,000 for capital projects of at least $100,000.

The village is in its fifth year of offering business grants to foster economic revitalization and growth and has budgeted $1.25 million through 2025-2026. To date, 58 businesses have received grants with $891,000 paid out for a variety of projects representing an investment of $5.7 million, Trujillo said during an overview.

This will be the fifth business grant awarded to Top Shelf, which was acquired by new owners in early 2021 and reopened in July that year.

At Top Shelf, grant money has been used to install a new IT system and replace failing equipment, including a Zamboni ice resurfacing machine. The new entry will be the first publicly visible improvement, said co-owner Kurt Carlson.

“We don’t view it as a transaction. We view it as a trust. That trust carries responsibility,” Carlson said. “This is an incremental improvement rooted in stewardship, trying to maintain this rink as it exists and investing in its future. Everything we do there is to make it more accessible to the community.”

Carlson said the concept will establish a controlled interior connection to the mall corridor, enhancing visibility and pedestrian circulation.

He said the work will strengthen the facility as a community asset and ensure Top Shelf “remains a viable, vibrant and worthy place for the village to continue to place its trust in.”