Steamboat Springs City Council President Pro-Tem Heather Sloop cuts the ribbon with a hockey skate blade at Wednesday night’s grand opening for the expansion.

By Shannon Lukens.

The city hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the expansion at Howelsen Ice Complex in Steamboat. The new 4,200 square foot expansion includes second-floor viewing windows and a concession area, new restrooms and an office. Rink manager Dmitry Chase said that’s not all.

“Fantastic new amenity, particularly the women’s locker room. We’ve been striving for something like this to create a little bit more equity between sexes.”

This is the new Women’s Locker Room.

A new multi-purpose room will allow for licensed school-age childcare programming in the fall. Chase says he hopes the next phase at the rink is a second sheet of ice.

 

Here’s more from the City of Steamboat Springs.

“The new space is going to be a game changer for us,” commented Recreation Manager Alexis Wolf. “As program demands increase, we needed additional space that could be used not only for our high- priority youth programs but would also work for other programs and the community. This expansion exceeds our expectations on many levels.”

The new 4,200 square foot space features several facility enhancements and public amenities that can accommodate more than 150 people. During the work, significant exterior modifications were also made to incorporate the new space as well as installing an exterior steel staircase.

The first-floor expansion includes a new women’s locker room, public restrooms, and an office.

 

The second-floor houses numerous multi-purposes spaces including a concession area and two offices. In addition, the multi-purpose room is currently slated for licensed school-age childcare programming beginning this fall. Programming for the concession area is still to be determined but will also be available for the public to rent for special events and parties.

“While a space for youth has long-been a priority and the locker rooms were a necessity, the office spaces came as a bonus due to the result of having extra space,” said Parks Project Manager Matt Barnard. “That was kind of a lucky win and additional community benefit.”

The project design started in the summer 2020, moved to the construction phase the following summer and wrapped up this month, about a year after groundbreaking. The $2.05 million improvement project was managed by Parks & Recreation working with Steamboat Engineering and Design, a structural engineering firm.