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By Gus Saltonstall
Following a nearly year-long process that included a bid from The Trump Organization, the city announced on Wednesday morning that it has selected Wollman Park Partners II as the new operator of the famous Central Park ice skating rink.
Wollman Park Partners II (WPP II) is a partnership between Related Companies and CityPickle. Related is a global real estate company that has served as one of the operators of the rink for the last four years. CityPickle has overseen 14 pickleball courts at Wollman Rink during the spring and summer months for the last two years.
“Wollman Rink is a cherished space… and this next chapter ensures it remains a place where all New Yorkers — from every borough and every background — feel welcome,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, in a press release.
The new 20-year contract will begin on May 1, 2027. In total, the value of the deal to the city exceeds $100 million, including a $91 million offer fee and a commitment to a minimum of $10.9 million in capital investment.
“WPP II is committing to upgrading the facility’s aging infrastructure, offering affordable and accessible programming to the community, and continuing to form innovative partnerships with nonprofits across the city,” the news release from the city read.
Here are some of the highlights of WPP II’s proposal.
- Reinvest in the community by spending an estimated $10.9 million in capital enhancements.
- Make a series of upgrades designed to enhance energy efficiency and improve the overall visitor experience, including installing an environmentally friendly ice-making system, a state-of-the art ice mat system, and energy-efficient equipment for ice maintenance.
- Create a year-round community center.
The only other official bid received by the city to operate Wollman Rink came from The Trump Organization, which helped rejuvenate the rink in the 1980s, and ran it for many years following. The Central Park Conservancy also put in an offer — not an official bid — to give the city $120 million and run the facility themselves, as first reported by THE CITY. But the Adams administration turned it down.
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It would still be a mud puddle if it wasn’t for Donald J Trump.
Mud wasn’t the problem that Trump fixed in the 1980s.
It was a poorly built ice rink that couldn’t be used, so he made a show of building it correctly. It’s safe to assume he underpaid the contractors, and promised them work on other Trump projects.
Was the rink useable after his intervention? Did many Nee Yorkers and tourists benefit from an enjoyable rink?
Do you reflexively condemn everything that Trump does or did? Are you capable of independent thought?
I condemn Trump not paying contractors, something he was/is famous for. Yes, the rink was a good place to skate, except that the music was way too loud during public sessions. Haven’t skated there in decades, last skated in August in Flushing.
The ice at Lasker Rink (now replaced by the Davis Center) was terrible, so terrible that it would ruin blades. Trump managed Lasker too. So, don’t go boosting Trump’s ice rink CV.
Trump has put his name on a lot of ugly buildings. And since he organized the Jan. 6th coup attempt, he should be in prison for sedition.
If only he had been content to stick with something he was marginally qualified to do and didn’t afford him opportunities to kill millions!
He didn’t pay any of the contractors.
Bill that is not true and you know it, Does Donald Trump pay for substandard work NO. Good thing he works for us now.
Trump ALWAYS paid for substandard work. When building Trump Tower he fired all the NYC union workers pouring concrete and brought in workers from Poland, who spoke almost no English and paid them less money. He used Chinese steel at a time when US Steel and other companies could really have used his business. He destroyed the old Bonwit Teller building which the Historical Society deemed “significant” in commerce in NYC history and they wanted to protect the artwork and carvings from the building but Trump had his people go in over a weekend and destroy the friezes because he said it would take too much time for Historical Society to procure & protect.
He didn’t maintain the ice rink well over the course of his contract. His name was removed.
In other words he gets stuff done.
And Mussolini, so they say, made the trains run on time.
How impressive.
“[…] that is not true and you know it[.]”
https://www.curbed.com/2021/01/nyc-aims-to-end-the-wollman-contract-that-built-trumps-myth.html
You were saying?
The people of the city of New York are the ones who will literally pay the price for this nonsense. Donald Trump built and ran the rink extremely well until the clown politicians of NY got involved messed it up . Now the rink will be overpriced and poorly run. Just like everything liberals touch.
Trumo’s contract was sent to end in April 2021. DeBlasio tried to cancel.it after Jan 6th. I’m not sure what happened for those last few months since peiple were complaining that ice skating was a great COVID safe activity.
Since that time, as the article notes, the ri k has been run by a Related Partners group. I don’t know why you would expect them.to suddenly mismanage it since they’ve been doing fine for 4 years. The facilities are in need of upkeep. I hope they don’t have to keep it closed too long.
Yup, the NYPD’s counterterrorism programs are poorly run and far too expensive, but thankfully DT will take care of it and we’ll all be “safe” “again”.
https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/nypd-trump-counterterrorism-grants-cut-rcna235012
Oh, never mind me (not that you need any encouragement there, I’m sure): the funding has now been restored and, it goes without saying, the mango monarch is taking full credit for it.
https://gothamist.com/news/trump-restores-187m-in-ny-counterterrorism-funds-following-gov-hochul-demand
It’s TACO time!
The news only gets better and better — DJT is set to spare NYC $26 billion (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-2-2025)! Great move, right? Everyone knows this is a walking city.
Sure, there’s still the matter of that $17 trillion ($17,000,000,000,000) that got, uh, misplaced recently (https://www.meidasplus.com/p/exclusive-democrats-to-probe-trumps), but no doubt it’ll turn up eventually and be put to good use.
Their prices and how long the renovation will take are the main things to know.
The rest is fluff.
The Davis Center has posted its prices for the upcoming season and it seems perfectly reasonable. I’m excited to try it.
https://daviscenter.centralparknyc.org/skate/community-skate
Do either of these groups have any experience running an ice rink.
“Related is a global real estate company that has served as one of the operators of the rink for the last four years. “
Anon,
My mistake, I started skimming at “CityPickle”. Also whenever I see “global” (except warming) my eyes glaze over.
And I didn’t use a question mark.
Hope the ice at the Davis Center is good. Lasker Rink (managed by Trump) had terrible ice.
The trump repairs only lasted a few years, and it already needs to be renovated. Sad.
Trump repaired the rink in 4 months and opened it in 1986, 39 years ago.
All the guy running the country now cares about is getting his name on a marquis; any good he may do is incidental and accidental.
He has enriched himself on multi millions of taxpayer dollar for real estate development, discriminated against Black applicants, leading to a 1973 federal lawsuit, built on land promised to the Garment Workers Union, displacing nearly 900 Black, Italian, and Irish families who were moved into substandard, unwinterized bungalows; cut federal rental assistance will disproportionately impacts New York, put a two-year time limit on housing assistance displacing over 300,000 New York City public housing residents.
Worst of all, he helped wrongfully convict several innocent teenagers as the Central Park 5. He RUINED several lives as a result of his lifelong racism.
How can any of you defend this guy? He is the shame of our great city.
MAGA is not going anywhere, When President Trump leaves office his accomplishments can no longer be denied. President Trump will be on Mt Rushmore, and Vance, Don Jr. and DeSantis are all waiting in the wings. Libs have Newsom and AOC , So it ain’t gonna be over for a long time so I suggest you Wake Up now.
At least you said he will leave office. I hope you are right,
I for one say it’s good to hear from the unabashedly pro-dictatorship, anti-democracy contingent every now and again. Thanks, OPOD.
New Yorkers are a bunch of ingrates. It took Trump only 4months to fix what the city could not fix in six years,
Yes, it’s hard to imagine that any REAL New Yorkers would make a fuss over DJT’s withholding $18 billion in funding for city infrastructure projects in what might appear to the untutored eye as no more than an act of petty, petulant retribution. The ingrates!