By Leah Rae
RYE BROOK ? In the latest bid to repurpose an office park, developers are proposing a four-rink hockey arena in a commercial complex off King Street.
Reckson Operating Partnership is proposing the 140,000-square-foot recreation center as an alternative to an approved plan for a seventh office building there.
The arena aims to fill a demand for ice time and regional hockey tournaments. It also would carry out a family?s wish that was prompted by tragedy more than a decade ago.
Quinn Memorial Arena would be named in honor of 12-year-old Quinn Michael Connally, who died after a freak hockey injury in his home state of Massachusetts in December 2000. Steve Connally, Quinn?s father, is one of the principals of the company that would run the facility ? QMC Group, named for the boy?s initials.
Quinn had dyslexia, and hockey was a passion and a motivating force for him.
?Back in 2001, a family friend came in and said, ?When are you going to open Quinn?s rink?? ? Steve Connally said. ?And that?s basically what started the process.?
The family created the Quinn Legacy Foundation, raising awareness on dyslexia and organ donation. The foundation sought to build an ice rink in Massachusetts, but that hasn?t come to fruition.
The Rye Brook proposal came after Connally, a former commercial broker based in Stamford, Conn., and fellow hockey coaches looked for land to start a training rink. The foundation would not be involved in Rye Brook other than to sponsor skating programs for disadvantaged children and those with learning disabilities, he said.
Quinn was fatally injured during a practice when a puck struck the back of his neck, just below his helmet.
?Hockey was his thing, and that kind of kept him in the game as far as school goes,? Connally said of his son. ?Basically the rule was, if you don?t have B?s, you can?t go skating. And that seemed to work, so we went with it.?
The arena would be the largest between Boston and Philadelphia, designed to accommodate eight youth hockey tournaments a year, along with ice time for figure skaters, college hockey teams and men?s leagues. The developers say it would build tourism as families come in for weekend tournaments.
Ice time is at a premium at such facilities as the Brewster Ice Arena, Westchester Skating Academy in Elmsford and Sport-O-Rama in Rockland. Local hockey teams had to scramble this year after the Ice Casino at Playland was hit by Superstorm Sandy and taken out of commission.
Along with real estate costs, energy bills are a major challenge in running a rink, said Ed Witz, the Pelham High School hockey coach and general manager of the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon.
?If they can make it work, it?s a great idea,? he said. ?It grows the sports that are associated with ice hockey and with ice.?
The developers are pursuing fast-track approvals on a special permit and site-plan amendment so the arena could open in time for hockey season in September. Plans and traffic studies have been submitted to village officials, Westchester County and Harrison, where part of the parcel is situated.
The 32-acre site is down a slope from existing offices at Reckson Executive Park, bordering Purchase College, SUNY, and the BelleFair and Doral Greens residential developments. The plan will come up again at the Dec. 13 Rye Brook Planning Board meeting.
Nick Lyras, president of the Doral Greens homeowners association, said the plan seems good for the village, but he wants to see a full review of any traffic, noise and pollution impacts.
The arena takes up half the footprint of the approved office building, and would include 244 new parking spaces instead of 1,100 under the earlier plan. Reckson plans to complete detention ponds that were part of the original drawings and to propose further, yet-to-be determined construction once the arena is built.
The proposal adds to a trend toward new uses at office parks. In Harrison, The Journal News? former office on Gannett Drive is being cleared for a new fitness facility. In Rye, vacant offices are proposed for conversion to a hotel. Reckson Executive Park, built in the early 1980s, was planning a third phase of construction before the office market fell.
?We?ve looked at a lot of different alternative uses on the site,? said Bill Muzzio, Reckson?s senior vice president of construction and development. ?And this is the one that really seems to generate enough revenue to be able to make the deal realistic over there.?
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