Joey Garrison

USA Today Network - Tennessee

The NHL’s Nashville Predators and Metro government have reached a preliminary agreement for a new community hockey facility with two ice rinks as part of the ongoing redevelopment at the site of the old Bellevue Center mall.

The Predators and Mayor Megan Barry’s administration have organized a Thursday news conference to formally announce the Bellevue project, according to a source familiar with the plans. The facility is to be modeled off the Ford Ice Center in Antioch that opened in 2014 and also includes two rinks for youth and recreational hockey and ice skating.

The new Bellevue hockey facility is slated to be a piece of Charlotte, N.C.-based developer Crosland Southeast’s One Bellevue Place project on the old mall’s site. One Bellevue Place, which broke ground in 2015, is a mix-use development expected to open this fall that will include retail, entertainment and restaurant uses and a Sprouts healthy grocery store. The mall is already demolished.

In addition, Metro intends to build a new regional community center that would go next door to the ice center. Although the ice center could be used for some Predators team practices, the hockey club's main training facilities would remain at Centennial Sportsplex and Bridgestone Arena.

Metro Councilwoman Sheri Weiner, the area’s council representative, and Predators President and CEO Sean Henry confirmed plans for the new Bellevue ice center but declined to discuss details.

“Whenever we have the opportunity to work with Metro, Mayor Barry and the entire administration, sports authority and parks, it’s exciting,” Henry said. “You look at what we do together at the Ford Ice Center, at Centennial Sportsplex and ideally a new center, it just shows how well things come together.”

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Weiner called the Bellevue hockey center “a long time coming,” saying that for years people have reached out to her about making a project like this happen in the west part of Davidson County.

“There is a high vacancy in terms of available slots for children and youth to skate. Whether it is hockey, or figure-skating, there is interest, as you will hear on Thursday, from all over the county.”

In a statement, Barry said the city and Predators have worked well together on projects in the past.

"Metro has a great track record of working with the Nashville Predators and the Metro Parks Department to build great facilities that are fun for the family, create opportunities for youth, and strengthen the community," she said. "We are looking forward to similar results that will improve the quality of life for the Bellevue community in a way that benefits all of Nashville."

For years, the Predators had Bellevue on their radar for an ice center even before the team embarked on the Antioch project. The Tennessean reported in June that they city and team were actively exploring Bellevue options. The new facility is targeted for a part of the old Bellevue Center mall site that overlaps with the former Tennessee Titans practice facility that operated for one year in Bellevue.

Thursday's news conference will take place at the Bellevue Baptist Medical Center next to the mall site.

The two new Bellevue ice rinks could help fill a void for Middle Tennessee hockey and ice skating enthusiasts after A-Game Sportsplex Facility in Franklin closed last summer.

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Olympic gold medalist and Franklin resident Scott Hamilton, who leads an ice skating academy at the Antioch facility, is expected to lead similar programming at the Bellevue site.

Although details of the deal to build the facility are unclear, they are expected to largely mirror Metro’s deal for the Ford Ice Center, which was orchestrated by former Mayor Karl Dean’s administration.

Metro paid $14 million to build the Ford Ice Center and the Metro Sports Authority manages the facility. Under the deal, the Predators pay annual rent, between $250,000 and $350,000 in annual rent over 20 years to use the 86,000-square-foot building. Ticket tax revenues from Bridgestone Arena also go toward its toward the debt service.

A similar financing model for the Bellevue center would require Metro Council approval.

Pending approval, construction on the ice rink could begin this summer in time for an opening in the fall of 2018.

In addition to the Ford Ice Center, the Predators also have a lease agreement with Metro for use of Bridgestone Arena, the team's home stadium. As part of a 2007 deal to keep the Predators from leaving Nashville, the hockey club receives about $8 million per year in subsidies and incentives to operate the city-owned arena.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.