Two major proposals for recreation in Palm Beach Gardens are going in opposite directions.
A nonprofit organization’s $40 million plan to build two ice rinks with the backing of a company associated with hockey great Wayne Gretzky.
The City Council will consider leasing a city park for 40 years to the Palm Beach North Athletic Foundation at its meeting Thursday.
The park is named Plant Drive Park. It is east of Military Trail and south of Burns Road behind Palm Beach Gardens High School.
The dual ice rinks would replace a girls’ softball field used by Palm Beach Gardens High School and dedicated to the memory of slain softball player Amanda Buckley. The project also would eliminate a basketball court and a skateboard park.
In its memo to the council, the city called Plant Drive Park “a marginal recreational facility (that) attracts malcontents who engage in illegal activities, including vandalizing the premises.”
Plans for a $50 million gymnasium, pickleball, mini golf and restaurant complex on 14 acres in the Gardens North County District Park.
The city selected developer Mammoth Fieldhouse, a subsidiary of Mammoth Sports Construction of Meriden, Kansas, in September.
Negotiations hit a snag in January when Mammoth revised its financial approach, Stet News learned through the city’s response to a public records request.
The city ended negotiations on Jan. 9.
Ice rinks at Plant Drive
The city would lease Plant Drive Park for $10 a year plus revenue sharing for 40 years to PBNAF, a charity formed by financial adviser Mike Winter in 2017 to bring an ice rink to the city. Among its corporate partners is the Gretzky Hockey School, run by the son of hockey’s Great One, Wayne Gretzky.
Gretzky runs the school, which opened in 2014, with his son, Ty. Father and son both have homes in northern Palm Beach County.
The foundation also has support from hockey Hall of Famer Denis Potvin and former football star and north county developer Tucker Frederickson.
Another supporter: Insurance broker NFP, which has offices on PGA Boulevard. The company pledged $1.25 million in June 2022 and supported initiating a hockey program created by hockey Hall-of-Famer Pat LaFontaine.
The lease calls for the city to get $75,000 annually in years two to five, $100,000 in years six through 12, $125,000 in years 13 to 18, $150,000 in years 19 to 30 and $200,000 beyond 30 years.
City residents would get a discount to use the facility, which is expected to make $8.8 million a year by its fifth year against costs of $3.2 million and debt service of $2.5 million. The city would own the facility and not be responsible for debt payments.
"The first floor will be the facility’s main hub of activity. Visitors will have direct access to two full-sized ice rinks and party rooms. There will also be a quick serve concession area as well as a retail space for the purchase of athletic gear and sport specific merchandise and equipment,” PBNAF said in its June 28 proposal to the city.
"The second floor will have multipurpose rooms for activities and a large community/conference room. Additionally, there will be a full-service restaurant and bar, and areas for visitors to observe from above.”
The city recently closed 12 pickleball courts in Plant Drive Park. It replaced them with 24 courts at neighboring Lilac Park.
The city has not said if it would replace the softball field named for Buckley, who was killed in July 2006, or the skateboard park.
PBNAF won city approval in 2019 and county approval in 2020 to build ice rinks and a gymnasium at the regional park off of Central Boulevard but the city canceled the deal in November 2022 after the nonprofit failed to meet financial thresholds during the pandemic.
City Manager Ron Ferris said at the time the city had received seven other offers of interest to build on the regional park site but after a formal bidding period just two proposals emerged — one from Mammoth Fieldhouse.
Mammoth Fieldhouse at district park
The city agreed to move forward at the Gardens North County District Park with Mammoth, a spinoff of Mammoth Sports Construction of Meriden, Kansas, a builder of athletic fields.
The company’s motto is “Do something big.”
The spinoff was headed by Jason Farrant and represented by Gardens lobbyist Tom McNicholas. The team also included Brian Birckbichler, a former executive with Topgolf and Drive Shack.
McNicholas’ firm was in line to win a five-year, $500,000 public relations contract with the city in 2013 when its role in building support for a spring-training baseball stadium on the North County District Park site became public. The city didn’t hire McNicholas, who did not return calls for comment for this story.
The Mammoth plan for the park included:
- Six indoor basketball courts.
- Six indoor pickleball courts.
- Fourteen covered outdoor pickleball courts.
- Baseball batting tunnels.
- A miniature golf course.
- A restaurant.
But Mammoth negotiations hit a snag in January, when the company asked for city financial backing for the $50 million project. Mammoth’s proposed term sheet is here.
“To initiate the project, revenue bonds would be issued by the city. To sustain the project, revenue generated would be utilized to service the bond debt and operate the facilities,” Farrant wrote to city officials on Jan. 2.
The city responded a week later, saying officials had reviewed the terms of the proposed 30-year lease.
"The unanimous decision is to reject the proposal,” city purchasing agent Km! Ra wrote. “The terms of the proposal are completely opposite to the city’s stated intentions conveyed to the Mammoth team almost a year ago.
"Therefore, we will be moving forward with other options for Gardens District Park and will not be engaging into any further discussions with Mammoth.”
Under its agreement with Palm Beach County, which owns the 82-acre North County District Park, the city has until February 2028 to open an indoor recreational facility on the site. Any lease would have to win County Commission support as well.
In 2022, Ferris cited the 2028 deadline in cutting off negotiations with PBNAF.
“I can’t endorse the funding system method that they presented. I can’t do that. And I can’t wait. … We’ve got a deadline to meet,” he said.“When you go for financing and building and construction and everything that has to be done, it sounds far away but it’s not.”The city has not publicly announced the termination of negotiations with Mammoth and has not presented it for discussion at subsequent City Council meetings.
This story was originally published by Stet Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
