Thomas Breen photo
The Ralph Walker Skating Rink on Upper State Street.
The Board of Alders unanimously approved two public-private agreements — one that will keep Cornell Scott Hill Health Center in Dixwell for the next two decades, another that will bring an ice rink management company to Upper State Street for the next five years.
Local legislators took those votes during the latest regular bimonthly meeting of the full Board of Alders. The meeting took place in person Thursday night in the Aldermanic Chambers on the second floor of City Hall.
Alders unanimously voted in support of an agreement that will see Cornell Scott Hill Health Center lease 15,374 square feet across two floors at the new, soon-to-open “Q House” community center at 197 Dixwell Ave. The federally qualified community health center will relocate from its current neighborhood location across the street in Dixwell Plaza. It will be the city a base rent of $318,077.40 per year for an initial term of 20 years, with two five-year options to renew.
Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison: “The last button of this Q House project.”
“This is the last button of this Q House project,” Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison said as she urged her colleagues to support the agreement. “Ten years we’ve been working on this, day in, day out.”
She lauded the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center lease as bringing a “holistic approach to the one stop shop at the Q House building,” which will include a dance studio, a music studio, a gym, an arts studio, a kitchen, the Stetson Library, a senior center, and various community meeting rooms, in addition to the community health center.
Thursday night’s Board of Alders meeting.
Also on Thursday night, the alders unanimously approved a five-year agreement with the Bridgeport-based management company Wonderland of Ice that will have that company serve as the new operator of the recently rehabbed and long-shuttered Ralph Walker Skating Rink.
The management company will pay the city $5,000 a month, plus 10 percent of net revenue from operations above $100,000 per year. It will also pay the city 10 percent of revenue earned from concessions. The contract lasts a minimum of five years, with one five-year option to renew.
Edgewood Alder and Finance Committee Chair Evette Hamilton.
“This agreement represents an improvement over the previous agreement arrangement,” Finance Committee Chair and Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton said. In that prior setup, the city had been paying the rink’s previous operator $7,000 per month plus expenses to manage the site. With this new contract, the rink’s manager will be paying the city instead.
Click here to read more about both contracts.
The original agreement was very skimpy on public skate time. So much so that it seemed like the city was renting the rink from the operator. Did the city amend the agreement to include more public skate time?