Chatting With Whitney From Woodland Hills Ice on Friday, November 20th

On Friday afternoon I stopped by the parking lot of Westfield Topanga Promenade to check on the construction progress of Woodland Hills Ice.  I took a few spy photos (which hopefully I will add to this post this afternoon) and I see that the have begun laying the foundation and finished running the electrical service out to the site of the future rink.

After taking some photos I parked my car and was about to head over to Corner Bakery when a young lady approached me.  “Are you Girard from Hills of Woodland,” she asked.  I was busted!  It was Whitney from Woodland Hills Ice, so I took a few minutes to talk with her about the progress of the project and get some background.

Whitney explained to me that she’s never been involved with the ice skating business before, but she does come from a business background.  In about June of 2008 while visiting Woodland Hills, she got the idea that the Topanga Promenade Mall would be a great place to have Winter ice skating.  Crazy, eh?

From then on she has been tenaciously pursuing the dream, including putting together a coalition of skating rink industry companies who have partnered up with her to secure financing and the lease with Westfield.  In fact, Whitney informs me, that the lease has a 4 year term, with Woodland Hills Ice coming back November through February for the next 3 years (that’s through Februrary 2013, folks).

Like many projects of this magnitude, Woodland Hills Ice has been on-again and off-again several times, and only got the full go ahead last month.  Whitney was particularly thankful to Dennis Zine and says that without his support, the project wouldn’t have happened.

She revealed a lot of numbers to me, and lets just say this is a huge investment for Woodland Hills.  She says so far community support has been extremely positive.  We all know that in the west valley there can be extremely limited entertainment options for kids and adults alike, so it’s nice to have something new to do.

While there is still a lot of work to day, as of Friday Whitney remained cautiously optimistic that they’d reach their target opening date of November 25th (Wednesday).

Prices include skate rental and will be $11 for children under 12 years of age, $13 for students and seniors, and $15 for adults.

Opening day and Black Friday specials include:

Join Us On Opening Day: Wednesday November 25!
3-5PM half price skating with free introductory skating lessons

Early Birds: Join Us On Black Friday November 27!
8-10AM Skate for $8 and a free introductory class at 9AM

Also, Whitney says that on warm Winter days where the temperature is above 80 degrees you can come skate in your bathing suit for a discount.  I’ll keep you guys posted on whether or not construction finishes in time for opening day.

Good luck, Whitney!

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