The vision for The East Brunswick Ice Arena, a project that has demonstrated a focused shift in municipal community-centered projects, began nearly eight years before its opening. In 2018, DMR was contracted to work with a developer and the township to create multiple development concepts for a mixed-use town center that included a variety of housing types and eight acres for an ice arena.
Following approval of the plan, DMR helped negotiate horizontal improvements for the ice arena to be completed by the developer of the adjacent property, now known as Legacy Place, reducing the overall project cost.
DMR designed the 84,000 SF, twin-rink arena. In addition to the two ice rinks, the arena offers a rental area, multi-purpose room, a party room and a concession stand, in addition to staff offices, Zamboni storage and ice refrigeration, 12 locker rooms and 2 referee locker rooms. Both rinks include bleacher seating, as well as a second-floor balcony, offering the best view of the rinks, and marked with details on the floor designating center ice, goalie creases and the blue lines. At rink one, a third viewing option, a raised viewing platform adjacent to the lobby and concessions area, provides a more climate-controlled viewing experience through large glass windows.
The ice rink functions not only as a community hub for East Brunswick, but also as a revenue source, generating funds through league rentals, tournaments, advertising and events in its dedicated multi-purpose room, party room and even the symbolic lobby, which acts as its own space, most notably marked by a Kalwall-enclosure intended to represent an ice cube.