What a Winnetka Ice Arena expansion could look like

New ice sounds nice to the Winnetka Park Board, which recently expressed interest in further exploring the possibility further.

Representatives from the Winnetka Hockey Club, along with its design team, on May 28 proposed a plan for a remodeled and expanded Winnetka Ice Arena, with the hope of earning Park Board support.

While no decisions on the plan were made on May 28, the Park Board voted to increase the time allocated to park district staff to meet with the Winnetka Hockey Club, while also appointing Park Board President Elise Gibson and Commissioner David Seaman as liaisons to report back on those meetings.

This reportedly will include a recurring agenda item for updates on the ice arena to be presented at future Park Board meetings.

Brent Kozel, president of the Winnetka Hockey Club, said the ice arena was completed in 1972, the same year the hockey club was founded, and donated to the Winnetka Park District by the club.

He said the hockey club is proposing a new facility because of the current facility’s age, high maintenance costs, lack of adequate space for female players, and insufficient capacity to meet “growing demand” for ice time.

“It’s important to us to have a facility that is self sustaining,” Kozel said. “The current facility is, and we have no reason to believe what we’re proposing here will change anything as far as the burden on the community.”

Joining Kozel for the presentation was Nick Papanicholas Jr., the CEO of Nicholas & Associates, a design firm that specializes in building ice facilities. The company was hired by the Winnetka Hockey Club to share proposed designs with the park district.

Papanicholas said the proposed design includes a “grand lobby,” which he said is an important space for any ice facility because athletes and their families will often congregate there throughout a game day.

Another proposed addition would be a food and beverage area; he called the lack of one in Winnetka an “anomaly.”

“You walk into most ice arenas, they have a concession stand or they have vending equipment,” he said. “Everybody wants more, so we’ve really prioritized that.”

Other proposals include a rooftop area that Papanicholas said could be used for multiple activities and a bar and restaurant.

The budget for Papanicholas’ initial proposal is $47.5 million.

Kozel said he wasn’t expecting approval at the May 28 meeting, but rather direction.

“Our goal here today is to get a better idea if the board has interest in us continuing to pursue this,” he said, later adding, “We just need to know is this even a possibility and if so … figure out where this can possibly go.”

Commissioners agreed that they would like to further pursue discussions with the Winnetka Hockey Club to determine what is possible.

Seaman said he wasn’t sure if Papanicholas’ design would ultimately be approved but added that action needs to be taken. He noted that Kozel had previously spoken to the Park Board in April 2025, but there had been no further public discussions in over a year.

“We absolutely have to engage parties on this to see if we can find or get to a yes,” he said. “It’s a long process in Winnetka. We’re super deliberative. We need to appoint liaisons to lead discussions with staff, with the parties, to see if there’s anything that we can do here.”

Commissioner Christina Codo agreed with Seaman’s comments and said that this could provide an opportunity for the park district to address equity concerns with the women and girls who use the arena and capacity.

“I really want to move forward to explore this,” she said. “I think it solves several challenges.”

In response to a question from Commissioner Colleen Root, Papanicholas explained how public-private financing options might work. He said for the facility they built in Elk Grove Village, the Village provided 70% of the financing while Nicholas & Associates provided the balance. In Rosemont, local officials reportedly financed the project 100%, while Nicholas & Associates is paying back 25-30% of the total project cost over a 20-year period.

“All of them have unique, complicated structures, but we’re very well versed in this,” Papanicholas said. “If we all sit at a table, I’m confident we could find a solution.”

Park Board attorney Adam Simon, however, noted that because the Winnetka Park District is not a home rule unit of government, those exact options may not be available.

Park District Executive Director Shannon Nazzal said the proposed updates to the ice arena could be included in discussions surrounding the Skokie Playfields Campus Master Plan, while also adding that one challenge in that plan is parking — a current issue at many park facilities.

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