San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Ice Skating & Bowling Center will close its doors this summer for major upgrades, impacting both its ice rink and bowling alley for about a month.
The Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy, which oversees the city-owned site, confirmed the facility will shut down in July to fix aging infrastructure. The rink has been a key part of downtown’s recreational landscape for nearly three decades.
The closure comes as the Conservancy ended its current lease with VSC Sports, which expires June 30. A new operator has not been identified.
Subhajeet Seve Ghose, the executive director of the Conservancy, told the Chronicle on Monday that the board decided in December not to renew the existing lease. Instead, the Conservancy plans to use the downtime to invest about $600,000 in improvements.
“The ice arena needs major work on the mechanical infrastructure to keep it operating well for the next many years,” Ghose said. He noted that July was selected for the work because facility use is typically at its lowest point during that month.
The closure marks a delicate moment for the Yerba Buena district.
The neighborhood has struggled with a string of high-profile departures, including the closure of the San Francisco Centre mall and the recent shuttering of the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Meanwhile, the adjacent Mexican Museum project remains stalled.
Even so, officials stressed that the rink’s long-term future is not in question.
Built in 1998 as part of the rooftop children’s center project, the venue is San Francisco’s only year-round, full-service indoor ice rink. Its distinctive “wall of windows” recently drew international attention as inspiration for the hockey arena in Pixar’s “Inside Out 2.”
The rink is expected to reopen in August.
“When the facility opens in August with upgraded mechanical infrastructure, the results will be lower utility bills, better ice and overall higher service levels,” Ghose said.
All existing programs, including skating lessons and hockey leagues, are expected to resume once the facility reopens.
Skaters and bowlers can continue using the center through June 30 before the month-long closure begins.
This article originally published at San Francisco’s only indoor ice rink to close for major repairs.