Ice skating coming soon to Dilworth Park

While it seemed hardly the weather Wednesday to be thinking of winter sports, ice skating is coming in just weeks to Dilworth Park, the city's revamped public square west of City Hall.

The new Rothman Institute Ice Rink will open there Nov. 14, said Paul R. Levy, president and chief executive officer of the Center City District.

The rink will be open seven days a week through Feb. 22. It will be managed by Rink Management Services Corp. (RMSC) of Mechanicsville, Va., which was selected after competitively bidding for the contract, Levy said. RMSC operates 33 ice rinks in 17 states and Washington.

The skating rink will be open from 3 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 3 to 11 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.

The skating rink will be 120 feet by 60 feet, roughly the size of the rink at Rockefeller Center, Levy said. Several hundred skaters can be on the ice at a time, he said. The rink will be placed over the fountain field that now dominates the center of the park.

The Rothman Institute has provided "north of $100,000" to sponsor the rink for three years, Levy said.

The Center City District, which manages the park for the city, hopes the rink will be an anchor for the new facility once the weather turns cold.

The $55 million remake of Dilworth Plaza was unveiled in September. Major contributors to the project include the state ($16.35 million), the Center City District ($15 million), the Federal Transit Administration ($15 million), the city ($5.75 million), and SEPTA ($4.3 million). The William Penn Foundation provided $1.2 million.

At the time of the unveiling, about two-thirds of the park was opened to the public. That included a fountain field, a cafe, and swooping glass "headhouses" that serve as grand entrances to the subway concourse.

Levy said another block of the park - a lawn and more bench seating - will open by the end of next week. At that point, 90 percent of the park will be complete, he said. The remainder will be open before Thanksgiving.

In the little more than a month that it has been open, Dilworth Park has proved a reliable magnet for the Center City lunch crowd, tourists drifting through City Hall, and afterwork commuters delaying their run home.