Nicholas Family of Companies celebrates construction progress at new indoor ice rink in Elk Grove Village

Nicholas Family of Companies celebrates construction progress at new indoor ice rink in Elk Grove Village

Nicholas Family of Companies and its in-house sports and recreation division Spectate Group were joined by Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson on Thursday, May 21, to celebrate the significant construction progress at the Elk Grove Ice Arena, a new indoor ice rink on Meacham Road in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, about 25 miles northwest of Chicago. To commemorate the start of interior work at the new arena, guests at the event were invited to sign a support column within the new 86,261-square-foot, two-rink complex, leaving their permanent mark on the facility that will serve the local hockey community. Scheduled to open in fall 2026, the Elk Grove Ice Arena will also feature a family-friendly restaurant with rooftop access called Hatty’s Club. Construction began last August on the Elk Grove Ice Arena, which represents Nicholas Family of Companies’ third ice arena project in the Chicago area in just over one year, following its development of the Rosemont Ice Arena, a twin-sheet, 103,000-square-foot facility opening last fall in Rosemont; and its summer 2025 acquisition of Glacier Ice Arena, a two-rink, 63,000-square-foot facility in Vernon Hills. NFOC also owns a fourth rink, the Mount Prospect Ice Arena at Nicholas Sportsplex in Mount Prospect, and is currently developing the Westfield Ice Facility, a new multi-sheet indoor ice facility set to open in 2028 as part of the Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Ind., a northern suburb of Indianapolis. As with the other ice venues owned and developed by NFOC, the Elk Grove Ice Arena will be operated by the company’s in-house sports and recreation division, Spectate Group, which plans to expand its staff to accommodate the new facility. Designed by architectural firm ARCON Associates, the new arena will have eight general team locker rooms and eight dedicated locker rooms for Chicago Mission teams. Other featured elements include: a viewing area with floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking both rinks; a second-floor restaurant with private dining space and a rooftop terrace; an elevated ground-level grab-and-go food and beverage concept; and a physical therapy clinic. The arena also will have staff space and team amenities for the Chicago Mission hockey club. Community benefits provided by the facility include prime after-school weekday evening and weekend morning ice time for youth hockey groups and ice skaters; post-10 p.m. nightly ice time for adult hockey leagues; and dedicated time for the Chicago Mission boys’ hockey league practices and games. Situated less than 10 miles west of O’Hare International Airport, the new arena is also well positioned to attract regional and national hockey tournaments. The site was previously occupied by a Staples office supply store, which was demolished to make way for the new facility. The Elk Grove Ice Arena is being built by Nicholas & Associates, Nicholas Family of Companies’ construction arm, which also built Rosemont Ice Arena and the Mount Prospect Ice Arena/Nicholas Sportsplex, and will serve as general contractor for the Westfield Ice Facility when the project breaks ground in 2027.