Representatives from Royse-Witte Downtown LLC — a partnership between Royse & Brinkmeyer Apartments and Omni Development Corporation — presented plans for a potential ice rink in downtown Champaign at a town hall meeting at the ARC Auditorium on Wednesday. 

Audience members debated the pros and cons of the proposal. 

Collin Carlier, CEO of Royse & Brinkmeyer Apartments and University alum, said there is an ice shortage in Champaign, with the one-sheet, 94-year-old University Ice Arena having more users than ice time available. The arena is the only one in Champaign-Urbana. 

“I’ve been on this ice my entire life,” Carlier said. “Even 20 years ago, people were saying this ice arena is at the end of its life.” 

There are many options for what to do with the future of ice in Champaign, including repairing the ice arena, building a new on-campus or off-campus arena or a combination of the two, Carlier said. 

Ice Arena’s past and future

Built in 1931, when enrollment was hovering around 10,000 students, the Ice Arena now serves over 60,000 students and a larger C-U community. 

Requiring significant facility and mechanical needs, from meeting Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines to repairing existing structures, Campus Recreation began researching in Fall 2022 how to best use the space for students and community members. 

Early proposals included renovating the arena or building either an indoor multipurpose court or turf field, both with an esports lounge. 

In a March 2024 Illinois Student Council referendum, 88% of student voters voted in support of a $13 increase in student fees to renovate the arena. 

Justin Peterson, executive director of Campus Recreation, said at the meeting $13 is not enough to renovate the arena based on 2025 costs and that a thirty-party conducted feasibility study set to be completed by December will show how much renovations will truly cost.  

“We’re trying to so we’re trying to make sure that we have a well-executed financial plan before we go any further,” Peterson said.

The University has no plans to make decisions for the arena for at least two years, Peterson said. They want to lay all options on the table and ensure students are on board, as possible decisions could involve changes in student fees – the arena’s funding source.

The proposal 

Royse-Witte Downtown LLC is currently working on a five-phase Transit Oriented Development project around the Illinois Terminal, according to Carlier, which could include a two-sheet ice facility and hockey arena.

TOD also includes proposals expanding the Illinois Terminal and having a new residential building, a hotel and a parking garage. None of the phases is contingent on the others.

“What we are trying to create, both for our campus adjacent neighborhood and also for the broader Champaign community, is a neighborhood where transportation is valued (and) where there are exciting student experiences blending with community experiences,” Carlier said. 

Carlier said there is a ticking time clock on solving Champaign’s ice shortage, and they can act with or without the University’s support. The soonest launch date for TOD is Spring 2026 if interest is there. 

Stakeholder feedback 

Over the past few months, Royse-Witte Downtown LLC conducted meetings with on-campus and off-campus stakeholders, with more meetings to come, Carlier said. They want to know how best to use the space, whether having an ice facility or something else. 

Carlier said adult and youth recreation leagues want Champaign to have a strong skating and hockey culture to meet the needs of the region. 

“If you go from St. Louis to Indianapolis to Chicago and they form a triangle, there are no 12-month hockey facilities inside that triangle,” Carlier said. 

More meetings with stakeholders will come as they determine whether they want ice access during the summer months. The plan now is for the new ice facility to be open year-round, rather than just during the school year, as the Ice Arena is. 

Carlier said that with the proposed arena location, he hopes student interests remain high and community interest increases. He said he wants to know more about whether there are enough students able and willing to skate and work there after receiving responses from a form provided at the meeting. 

“If we don’t put it by the bus terminal, then we could do so much worse,” Carlier said. “We don’t wanna see it end up out in the middle of nowhere, where it’s really gonna have a very specific and substantial impact on user.” 

Location 

In creating the arena proposal, Carlier said Royse-Witte Downtown LLC looked for a location that was close to campus and could house two sheets of ice. TOD is about 1.1 miles from the Illini Union, and the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District is currently working to boost capacity at the Illinois Terminal from 14 to 23 bus bays, according to Carlier.

“Putting this potential facility next to a transit hub is the very best way we can create an accessible facility without it being in the center of campus,” Carlier said. 

Carlier said the campus arena, due to its central location, could be used for other recreational uses, such as indoor E-sports, turf sports or lacrosse.

During the Q&A session of the meeting, one audience member asked how Royse-Witte Downtown LLC would keep students coming to the Ice Arena if it were further away. Carlier answered the question by focusing on cost-effectiveness.  

“I don’t think I can give a very satisfactory answer on how to preserve that level of priority,” Carlier said. 

Cost, funding sources

Another concern from audience members was how the proposed ice facility would be paid for. There are many options to consider, according to Carlier, but whoever uses the facility would need to pay their fair share. 

Carlier said it is more efficient for the campus and broader communities to work together on this issue, and it would be a more competitive price to construct a downtown facility rather than a new on-campus facility. 

“The interesting thing is the community could choose to buy cheap land in Savoy or West Champaign or in other communities in order to fulfill their ice needs, but they would prefer to put it adjacent to campus,” Carlier said.

Past proposal 

Royse-Witte Downtown LLC is not the first corporation seeking to close the ice shortage gap in Champaign. 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a project known as The Yards — which included an expanded Illinois Terminal, sports arena, hotel, apartments, retail space and more — was underway, but the original developer, Core Spaces, has since withdrawn. 

Higher costs, employment and supply-change issues held up the project, the MTD said in December 2022.

“I am a community member here and a taxpayer here, and I think without COVID, it would have happened, but here we are,” Carlier said. 

The Yards is a bolder version of TOD, Carlier said, which required more commitments from the University and other stakeholders. TOD’s arena would cost $30 million to $50 million, which is less than the University’s commitment for The Yard, according to Carlier.

Next steps

In the meantime, Peterson said Campus Recreation plans to pour more money into the existing facility to keep it functioning, unless the building experiences catastrophes.

“We don’t wanna get out of the ice business,” Peterson said. 

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