A shot at the new mezzanine at the newly renovated Bowling Green State University’s Slater Family Ice Arena. (Ben Shanahan | Sentinel-Tribune)
By Ben Shanahan
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
Bowling Green State University Associate Athletic Director for Facility Operations Dr. Jamie Baringer led a tour for the Kiwanis Club of Bowling Green through the new Slater Family Ice Arena renovations.
The project includes making necessary upgrades to improve the existing building systems, life safety, accessibility, and daily function, including upgrades to the locker rooms and restroom renovations.
It also includes the creation of a new mezzanine on the south end of the main rink to include private suites, concessions, a club room, additional spectator seating, and the addition of a 1,000 square-foot lobby at the west main entrance.
The newly renovated main entrance will highlight achievements, creating opportunities for trophy displays and encourage future growth.
The offseason renovations to the arena is not a new thing for Baringer, as she has seen five renovations to the building since joining BGSU Athletics in 2010.
“In 2010, we did a major renovation just to get the building up to standards. Basically, an ice plant. Can’t have an ice arena without an ice plant,” Baringer said.
“In 2011, there was another phase that took what used to be the main entrance into the main rink and made that our pro shop skate rental and concession area. At that point, we transformed into a true community facility, offering 500 pairs of rental skates. We also had a daily concession stand, which this building has never had prior.”
“We waited a couple of years, and then we decided to do it right around our 50th anniversary. We decided we wanted to do a nice big clean of the arena, the main sheet. So we power washed the bleachers down. It’s a 50-year-old building; there’s lots of cracks, and some water seeped in some areas that it really shouldn’t have seeped into.
“Then the last one we did was the summer of Covid; we had already planned that summer to replace the ice sheet over, the concrete, and the multipurpose rink. So Covid allowed us the time and about a $1.5 million renovation and we didn’t have to worry about putting our customers out because the world was shut down,” added Baringer.
Renovations may not be new for Barringer, but one to this this year’s magnitude was forever, as The Slater Family donated $2 million and a wish list to BGSU Athletics for these renovations. Scott Slater submitted the list pre-Covid.
“One of his No. 1 things was building a mezzanine, a premium seating area for Falcon hockey game days. So that is the one project that when we went out to bid and did a space study on how we could renovate the facility. The next thing he wanted was a nice new entrance,” said Baringer
After the space study and planning came construction, and it is not fully complete because there are still plans in the future to build a new press box. For now, the mezzanine is complete, and it brings the whole arena together.
“The mezzanine has 40 club seats and 12 rail seats. It is a very restricted space on game days,” Baringer said. “You have to have a credential to get up into that space, and in order to get that, you have to be a season ticket holder in one of the suites or in one of the club-level seats.
“There is one suite that we are holding on a game-by-game basis. If you and 12 of your friends would like to come and run that, it’s about $1,500. The rest of the space upstairs, there is an open bar area.”
The BGSU board of trustees approved hiring Moody Nolan of Columbus to lead the renovations. The entire project budget is $5.75 million.
The Ice Arena Building opened in 1967 and was named for the Slater Family in 2017, after receiving a series of facility upgrades beginning in 2008.
The 90,000 square-foot building is home to the NCAA Division I Bowling Green Falcon ice hockey team, which is a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), as well as to multiple high school hockey teams, the Bowling Green Skating Club, and the Bowling Green Youth Hockey Association.
The Slater Arena offers a variety of programs including public skating, learn to skate lessons, youth hockey, figure skating and adult hockey.
