- July 15, 2026
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Plans for an ice rink at the Premier Sports Campus North are receiving mixed reviews from Lakewood Ranch area residents.
On June 16, Manatee County commissioners authorized County Administrator Charlie Bishop “or his designee to move forward with a proposed business transaction” with Icemann Development LLC to build a 190,000-square-foot multiplex.
The vote was unanimous with Commissioner Jason Bearden absent. Once the details are worked out and reviewed by the county attorney, a land lease and operating agreement are expected to go before commissioners sometime in August or September.
The plan is to build the facility on 22 acres of county-owned land at Premier, east of the Lakewood Ranch Library.
The facility would include three full-size rinks and one warm-up rink, something that parents of children who figure skate or play hockey say is needed in the area.
Greyhawk Landing’s Julie Fitzpatrick has 13-year-old twin boys, Owen and Connor, who play for the Gulf Coast Flames, a travel team based out of the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex.
“People who don’t know much about figure skating or hockey don’t understand that two sheets of ice (or two rinks) between Ellenton and Estero is just simply not enough,” Fitzpatrick said. “There are kids who want to play — travel, rec and higher levels of hockey — but there aren’t enough teams (because of so few rinks).”
Fitzpatrick also noted that as her kids have gotten older, their practice times have increasingly gotten later. Fall practice won’t start until 8:30 p.m. this year, which Fitzpatrick said will be tough as she gets up early to teach physical education at B.D. Gullett Elementary School.
Residents opposed to the plan aren’t against another ice rink in Manatee County. They’re opposed to an ice rink of that size at Premier.
“Put it in a location that makes sense, where there are hotels around and it's truly an event location,” Indigo’s Suzanne Henke said.
Henke named Town Center Parkway as a more suitable location because it’s close to the interstate with plenty of nearby hotels.
Commissioner Bob McCann will propose moving the ice rink to the grounds at the Bradenton Area Convention Center at the July 28 commission meeting because of an “infrastructure deficit.”
McCann’s motion states that the convention center features “established, robust infrastructure, superior transit access, and the capacity to accommodate the project without placing further strain on an overburdened residential area,” while Premier “lacks the basic infrastructure to support (the project).”
His motion further states that the lack of infrastructure at Premier is “setting the project up to fail and punishing local residents with more traffic.”
Lorraine Lakes’ Rosella Stromberg plans to attend the July 28 meeting to express her concerns. The safety of local children riding bikes and waiting at bus stops is at the top of her list.
Stromberg is a surgical nurse, who works with trauma patients. She said she is worried the “traffic generated by a regional sports facility will create additional vehicle congestion and more potential conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians.”
She cited the lack of funding to widen Lorraine Road as an added issue. Stromberg often struggles to make a left turn onto Lorraine Road from Rangeland Parkway because the traffic backs up so much.
Henke noted that Commissioner George Kruse often argues that commercial development should be approved near residential to keep cars off the road, so the combination of a sports arena without any nearby hotels will add "a gazillion cars to that little square of roadway."
Premier is surrounded by residential communities.
Stromberg said residents were promised parks, preserves and open space when moving to the area, “not a large commercial sports complex.”
She fears the activity, noise and lighting that comes with a 190,000-square-foot events center will be “well beyond what residents reasonably expected” when purchasing their homes.
Fitzpatrick travels all over the country for ice hockey. She cited hockey rinks in residential communities from Orlando to Salt Lake City.
“These places are everywhere, mixed in the middle of big neighborhoods,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s a very community-based thing. That’s where the kids go to hang out.”
Gordie Zimmerman, CEO and co-founder of Icemann, called Lakewood Ranch the "prized area that we've always wanted to be in." Zimmerman likes Lakewood Ranch so much that he's contemplating moving to the area.
"The Tampa Bay Lightning are deeply excited about (a facility at Premier)," he said. "We're just happy to be here and to present something to the community."
Fitzpatrick has visited the rink Icemann built in Wesley Chapel quite a bit. She called the AdventHealth Center Ice “an absolutely beautiful facility.”
McCann has often cited “slushy ice” as a problem that leads to failing ice rinks, which Fitzpatrick agreed is a problem at older facilities during the summer months, but not at the AdventHealth Center.
“It’s freezing in there,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what time of the year; it’s frigid.”
Icemann's track record puts some minds at ease, such as Kruse, who said a facility of AdventHealth's quality will "do justice to what (Manatee County) is trying to do at Premier."
"The goal of Premier is to have everything be tournament level," Kruse said. "I'm exited about this. This is going to be great."
However, Stromberg is concerned that, unlike the aquatic and racket center that's being built at Premier, the ice facility will be owned by a corporation instead of the county.
"Across the whole country, big corporations are buying up sports complexes, and then charging whatever they want," she said.
McCann said he will ask how much residents will pay and how much the county will receive at the July 28 meeting.
Initial discussions included 20% of the gross parking garage revenues going back to Manatee County.
The amount of water that will have to be pumped into the arena also concerns Henke.
According to the National Hockey League, "The ice-making and resurfacing process is among the most water-intensive operations in professional sports. On average, it takes 12,000 to 15,000 gallons of water to create an NHL regulation ice sheet, which typically is kept frozen for an entire season. Once created, ice re-surfacers scrape or shave the ice sheet and re-build it with a thin layer of water to ensure that the surface is optimal for the competitive play that takes place on it."
"You're going to put in a four-sheet ice center, and you're telling us that we can't use water," Henke said referencing Manatee County's current water restrictions.
The facility's main purpose will be ice-related sports, but that won't be its sole purpose. Manatee County is calling the proposed facility a "multiplex" that could be used to host additional sporting events, such as basketball, volleyball and cheerleading, along with community events and consumer shows.
Special flooring can cover the ice.
Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he’s also working with Icemann and Director of Public Safety Jodie Fiske to work the use of the facility as an emergency shelter into the land lease.
But a facility that can house thousands of people is exactly what those in opposition don't want.
Henke suggested a skate park and Stromberg suggested a community park as better fits for a residential neighborhood.
"(Manatee County) very sneakily did all of this without any public input," Henke said. "They need to utilize the space they've got and stop putting things in every square inch of grassland that's left in Lakewood Ranch."
