OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Before the puck drops for Olympic hockey in Milan, Italy, in 2026, a new ice rink promises to open in Overland Park.
Last month, developers for the Bluhawk complex near West 159th Street and U.S. 69 told a committee of city council members they plan to break ground on a multi-sport facility in September 2022.
The first phase of the facility will include one ice rink and be ready for skating in 2023. The deadline to complete the first phase is 2025.
A second phase of the sports facility will add a second ice rink in 2028.
Bluhawk previously announced it no longer plans to host a semi-pro hockey team at the facility.
Loretto Sports Ventures, which owns the Kansas City Mavericks minor league hockey team, had plans to partner with Utah-based Woodbury Corporation to open a community ice center and arena called Mentum on the site of the old Great Mall of the Great Plains in Olathe.
Plans fell through and Olathe-based tech giant Garmin now owns most of that land.
In 2020, Loretto and Woodbury both said they’re continuing to pursue options for a community ice rink in Olathe, but neither group had an update when KSHB 41 News asked this week.
Youth ice hockey leaders in the area say the popularity of the sport is only growing.
Kansas City currently has three major, permanent, indoor ice facilities. They include Line Creek Community Center in the Northland, Independence Ice on the same campus as the Mavericks minor league hockey team and KC Ice Center in Shawnee.
Editor's note: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated when the ice rink was schedule to open.