State OK needed for Ocean Ice Palace deal Township may or may not sell Civic Plaza, mayor says BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer The final vote on the $9.9 million bond ordinance to buy the Ocean Ice Palace property could come within the next two weeks, Brick Township Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said. But township officials still must have the financing plan approved by the state Local Finance Board before Brick can move forward with plans to transform the nearly 46-year-old ice rink and 13.34- acre property into a long-awaited community center, he said. "We introduced it," Acropolis said. "It's not like it's a done deal. Even if we have the second reading [on the ordinance], it doesn't mean the bonds are being issued." The Township Council introduced the latest Ice Palace ordinance at the April 22 caucus meeting. The ordinance includes the purchase price of $5.2 million for the site, which includes the ice rink building, a separate building that was used for visiting hockey teams, and a 25-yard outdoor pool. "The purchase price hasn't changed," the mayor said. "It's $5.2 million. It's always been $5.2 million. If we decided to expand the facility, we'll get a lot of public input. Toms River spent $7 million to build another ice rink. Let me repeat that: $7 million." The other $4.7 million in the new bond ordinance includes funds for a new parking lot, roof repairs, streetscaping and landscaping. It will cost roughly $1.2 million to $2 million to renovate the inside of the ice rink building and roof. The rest will be spent on improvements to the parking lot and a senior center, the mayor said. "We should either break even or have an asset that will produce revenue sometime in the future," Acropolis said. Township officials are hoping to finance the purchase through improvement bonds issued by the Morris County Improvement Authority, which has a Triple A bond rating. That would save Brick, which as an A1 bond rating, the cost of buying bond insurance and putting aside money for a down payment, TownshipAdministrator ScottM. Pezarras said recently. Now is a good time to finance the Ice Palace purchase, since interest rates are at "historic" lows, Acropolis said. "I don't want to leave the same mess Joe Scarpelli left," Acropolis said, referring to longtime Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli. Scarpelli is now serving an 18- month sentence in federal prison on corruption charges. During Scarpelli's tenure, Brick officials bought the Foodtown site in 2003, for $6.1 million, with the intent to build a community center there. A feasibility study commissioned by the Township Council in 2006 did not focus on what particular site would be used, but on financial issues. The study proposed increasing the size of the center, which raised the tag for the project to $33 million. Plans for a community center date back to 2000, when Scarpelli was mayor. The current administration had originally planned to sell both the townshipowned Foodtown site on Route 70 and the Civic Plaza on Chambers Bridge Road and put the proceeds toward the purchase of the Ocean Ice Palace property. Both the Foodtown and Civic Plaza sites have had large "This Property For Sale" signs in front of the properties for almost a year, with Pezarras' Town Hall phone number listed as a contact. But now Civic Plaza may or may not be sold, the mayor said. "We are looking at all other options … whether the income would be greater if it was a full commercial plaza," he said. "Would we do better from a financial standpoint? All of our options are still on the table." Acropolis said there is still a "fantastic" amount of interest in both the Foodtown and Civic Plaza sites, despite the souring real estate market. While the real estate market in general is depressed, the commercial real estate market is not, he said. "The commercial market has been pretty firm," Acropolis said. Township officials have received a number of inquiries from interested buyers about the Foodtown property and listened to presentations for suggestions about its future use, ranging from a hotel to retail stores, Acropolis said. "There's no asking price," Acropolis said. "It has to be at least what we paid for it. We are not going to lose money on it." The Township Council voted 6-to-1 in July to introduce a $5.45 million bond ordinance to purchase the landmark at 167 Chambers Bridge Road. But the ordinance never came up for a second reading after the state Local Finance Board nixed the township's request for a waiver on the down payment. Township officials have been quietly negotiating with Ocean Ice Palace owner Joan Dwulet since early 2007. Dwulet's late father, Leon, a well-known northern Ocean County physician, built the ice rink in the early 1960s.