FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Nearly three years after breaking ground, the Florida Panthers officially opened their new training facility Wednesday.
Located inside Holiday Park about 2 miles west of the Atlantic Ocean, the Baptist Health IcePlex holds two sheets of ice and is the home of the team’s NHL operations.
Though the Panthers moved into the facility Dec. 22 and have been holding practices and morning skates there since, the IcePlex will open to the public Thursday.
The ceremonies Wednesday included NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Panthers president and CEO Matt Caldwell, general manager Bill Zito, and other dignitaries cutting the ribbon to open the 144,000-square-foot facility.
“In addition to the fact that this is a magnificent facility,” Commissioner Bettman said, “one of the things the NHL prides itself on is our teams making a difference in the lives of the people in the communities in which they play. I don’t think there can be any better example than what we’re looking at here, and what is coming over the summer. … This is a great day for Fort Lauderdale and for Broward County. And it is the beginning of many, many, great things to come.”
The facility will have cost more than $65 million when it is complete.
Aside from the newly constructed ice complex, which features two NHL-regulation-size rinks with five curling lanes and a 7,500-square-foot team store and restaurant, the Panthers are also completely renovating the adjoining War Memorial Auditorium.
War Memorial Auditorium was built in 1950 and had fallen into disrepair when the City of Fort Lauderdale reached out to the Panthers to see if they had an interest in helping fix up the old building.
It quickly became a much bigger project.
“I will never forget coming to this site,” Caldwell said, recalling his first visit to the War Memorial with owner Vincent Viola. “If you know Vinnie, you know he has a lot of energy, a lot of brainpower and a lot of commitment. What started as, ‘Maybe we do a sheet of ice, maybe an event space,’ resulted in this. This is dedicated to the community.”
The War Memorial Auditorium is being transformed into an upscale live music venue.
The two buildings housing the ice sheets were built around the auditorium and are connected by the restaurant, which will open next month, and a common gathering area.
The facility opened in phases, with the Panthers’ building the priority and completed first. That allowed the team to move in and get used to the new environment.
Most of Florida’s players live in and around Fort Lauderdale, and many drive golf carts through the surrounding neighborhoods to get to practice.
“From a hockey standpoint, this is a game changer from the location to the quality of the facility,” Zito said. “Having lived here for three years, imagine if you had a place like this when you were kids? It is unbelievable. There is so much to do. You could tell from the chit-chat in the community, how much the people around here appreciate it.”
War Memorial Auditorium is expected to reopen this summer.
“I want to thank the Panthers organization, the Viola family, everyone connected to this enterprise which has made it a reality,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said. “We thank these angel investors who have come to our community to try and build community up as we have today and what we will see in the future.”
On Wednesday night, the first community game was to be held inside the new complex when the Panthers Warriors played Fort Lauderdale Police & Fire.
The Panthers will continue to hold the various Learn To Skate programs they hosted at their former training facility in suburban Coral Springs, where the team continues to run the three-sheet IceDen.
Caldwell said that having five ice sheets available between the Coral Springs and Fort Lauderdale sites will allow the team to compete to host major youth tournaments as the Panthers continue to grow the game in South Florida.
The Panthers also are adding a total girls hockey program, starting with a “Girls Learn to Play” series in Fort Lauderdale.
“I already have my 4-year-old daughter signed up for it, although she may not know it yet,” Caldwell said. “We start at 5 o’clock on Wednesday.”
