From 3-Rink Dream Idea To Seattle Hockey Reality

Longtime Kraken executive Lance Lopes was on the verge of going outside of Seattle by mid-2018 to secure land for the team’s future training facility when a last-minute tip gave him a final longshot chance inside city limits. 

“I had explored sites all over the region that would be big enough to build a two-rink facility and possibly three,” said Lopes, today still a Kraken executive vice president and general counsel. “So, I was looking as far north as Lynnwood and as far east as Redmond. All over King County. And frankly, I’d ruled out Seattle at that point because there was no retail real estate available with a footprint like that.” 

That’s when an investor and top advisor with NHL Seattle – what the Kraken were called prior to the team being named-- suggested exploring local shopping malls and Lopes told him only Northgate Mall met the team’s requirements. The investor knew the head of Simon Property Group, which owned the mall’s real estate, so he placed a call and was told the company was already years into planning a massive reimagining of the site and about to request final zoning approval. 

Lopes jumped on the phone and, a hasty meeting later, got Simon to make a last-minute proposal alteration that changed the city’s history with regard to accessible ice surfaces. Eight years later, what’s now the 172,000 square-foot Kraken Community Iceplex, privately funded by the NHL team for $90 million, on Wednesday celebrates its fifth anniversary of becoming a significant hockey, skating and community focal point throughout the region.  

“They were just about to file for approval and we show up and say, ‘What about putting in ice rinks?’ ’’ Lopes said. “And they said, ‘We would certainly be interested in doing that.’ So, they amended it and just sort of slipped us in there. So, we went in under their (plan) and what that allowed us to do is short circuit what I’d call the red tape of building in Seattle.” 

KCI now serves as the headquarters and practice facility for not only the Kraken, but also as a training ground for the women’s professional hockey Seattle Torrent and the first AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds preseason camp four years ago. About 1.1 million visitors flock annually to what’s also become a prime venue for youth and adult hockey, figure skating, public skating, community events, private parties and corporate meetings, even curling and broomball, a Starbucks Community Store, the 32 Bar & Grill restaurant, Kraken Team store and Virginia Mason Franciscan Health medical clinic.  

And it’s all within a Light Rail station linking multiple communities to a growing Northgate campus with prime eateries and retail outlets. 

Seattle had never had an indoor hockey facility with three NHL-size ice rinks before. Nor had a new venue with permanent indoor public access been built within city limits in more than four decades. 

“It was very important for us to build something that was in Seattle proper,” Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke said. “We were a Seattle team, and we wanted to be right in the middle of things. Today, you’ve got a beautiful, first-rate facility that not only serves as the practice venue for the Kraken, but the Torrent as well. And we’ve got some of the region’s most elite figure skating going on right in our venue.

“The retail that’s going up all around us is also something else. It looked good when we first saw it at the very beginning. But what’s coming in there now far exceeds anything we’d expected. So, there is a lot going on at KCI and all around it to keep drawing people here.” 

It began when Simon offered Lopes and NHL Seattle a land parcel from the former Macy’s store anchoring Northgate Mall. Lopes said the land was perfect for at least a two-rink facility, very likely three if the team could absorb the cost, plus the future Kraken headquarter offices. Simon had already gotten an environmental impact study and other key assessments done, meaning the Kraken didn’t need years for those to come through.  

“They had done all of this major phase work in advance,” Lopes said. “And so it not only allowed us to build within the city limits, at a great location, but also to hit a timeline that would get the building ready for our first season.” 

That timeline was shaky. 

The Kraken formally announced their Northgate plans in October 2018, right after the NHL Executive Committee unanimously agreed to hold an owners’ vote on awarding Seattle a 32nd franchise.  

The official vote passed two months later in Sea Island, Georgia, birthing a Seattle franchise scheduled to begin play in October 2021. 

 With the Kraken and Oak View Group development company building the $1.15 billion Climate Pledge Arena, throwing a practice facility into the busy mix was highly ambitious. But given this was a fledgling franchise, with new players and employees, there was urgency among NHL Seattle members to have a centralized headquarters for everyone from Day 1 without needing moving vans on-the-ready. 

So, the lack of red tape at Northgate helped immensely, especially when the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic caused construction to halt for weeks and a demolition mishap on an adjacent property led to wayward debris damaging the KCI facility only months before its scheduled opening. 

But the KCI doors indeed opened two weeks ahead of the very first Kraken training camp workout Sept. 23, 2021, followed in early November by the launch of 32 Bar & Grill.  

Meanwhile, venue partner Starbucks opened its 21st Community Store on site. The “Starbucks Rink” is KCI’s primary ice sheet used for most Kraken practices and with seating for up to 500 spectators. 

The biggest challenge was building a facility players could call home, with top training amenities to draw them to a new market while also availing KCI space to the general public. 

“Including the word ‘community’ in name of this building couldn’t have been more appropriate,” said Kraken vice president Krista Leesment, who oversees KCI business operations. “With a building that runs 360 days a year from six in the morning to one the next morning – with programming effectively changing hourly across three rinks – we get a ton of people in here, enjoying the facility and programs we offer.” 

A portion of Starbucks proceeds from the KCI location goes to the team’s One Roof Foundation (ORF) philanthropic arm as well as other non-profit endeavors. ORF has since played host to more than 300 field trips to KCI for Title I schools and youth-serving nonprofits, introducing thousands of young people to the rink who might not otherwise have had the opportunity.

KCI serves as home to the Kraken Youth Hockey Association, the adult Kraken Hockey League, and the Kraken Skating Academy, not to mention countless amateur hockey tournaments. Aspiring players get the unique chance to skate on the same ice as the Kraken. 

Leesment said the venue truly has become a community space, “From the friendships and bonds that form between kids training together, the connections between parents and guardians who haul their kids here 3-6 days a week, and stand coffee in hand, shoulder to shoulder watching the kids on the rink.  The community, school, corporate and friend groups who come together for an outing on the ice and some great food and drink. It’s a magical place and an honor to help shepherd.” 

KCI visitors are greeted by a cedar and steel sculpture by Native American master carver Andrea Wilbur-Sigo. The installation features seven large cedar paddles – representing past generations of ancestors and the next seven future generations – and one distinct hockey stick. 

Two murals located on the venue’s first and second floors were created by Paige Pettibon, a Tacoma artist identifying as Black, white, and Salish and a steward of the Lushootseed language. 

“It really is a place that brings people together,” said Ken Moriarty, general manager of 32 Bar & Grill and head of the Kraken’s food and beverage program. “To get all of these people here under one roof from all across the city and the state has been a goal from the beginning and it’s something we’ve seen grow.” 

The restaurant, festooned with 21 television sets and hockey memorabilia both amateur and professional from Seattle and Washington teams, is more than just a place to grab a bite or drink. It’s the gathering spot where those using KCI from early mornings to late nights, both families and individual sports fans alike, can gravitate to.  

“I think the location of the restaurant within the facility is really neat,” Moriarty said. “I mean, it’s overlooking two of the three rinks. In 75% of the restaurant you’re overlooking those two rinks. So, there’s always something you can see. On practice days, you can sit in the restaurant and watch the Kraken practice.” 

A daily assortment of Kraken staffers can be found lunching and meeting there as well.  

“Early on, that was very important to leadership – and to Tod (Leiweke) in particular,” Moriarty said. “Tod envisioned a place that our (Kraken) corporate side could come to. That they could do meetings in. Where they could gather at lunch and it would become a home base for them. And it’s proven to be that.”

The food and beverages served within the restaurant follow the same strict protocols as the team’s Climate Pledge Arena offerings: Organic and locally sourced within a 300-mile radius from regional Pacific Northwest partners.

Executive chef Brandon Cathey plans and prepares the daily, nutritious meals for the Kraken players during practices and game days, while also running the kitchen for the public restaurant. 

“We’re fortunate to have three rinks here and a large area where we can bring corporate and private groups in,” Moriarty said. “Group ice outings and dining to watch parties to Season Ticket Member events. There’s been a lot of growth there.” 

The restaurant has become a place for watch parties and where Kraken and also Mariners, Seahawks, Huskies and Sounders fans gather ahead of games prior to hopping on Light Rail and venturing downtown to the arena and stadiums. 

Moriarty got started in his family’s restaurant business at age 14 and spent years at local eateries and running his own catering business, getting to know, among others, Mick McHugh, the longtime proprietor of sports hangout FX McCrory’s in Pioneer Square and consultant on 32 Bar & Grill.  

“We knew it was going to be a very quality focused restaurant,” he said. “But more than anything, my focus was really on service and how we treat the guests. How we treat the people in here like it’s their home.” 

That “home” nearly got demolished before it was finished being built.  

It had been designed by Generator Studio of Kansas City, among the world’s leading practice venue architects for pro hockey. BNBuilders was tabbed for the construction, but – even with the heavy lifting done by Simon on site pre-approval – NHL Seattle still had an abundance of permitting work to do before any construction began. 

The enclosed area and tightness of buildings spaced around the mall site also made for a challenging demolition to ready the land for development. An example of how challenging it was to do demolition in and around the immediate area would be driven home towards the latter stages of construction. 

Just getting to that final phase proved challenging. 

The project finally broke ground Feb. 27, 2020, with speeches by Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, council member Debora Juarez, and others. It was just one day before the nation’s first COVID-19 case was announced in Kirkland.  

“We’ve brought more of a Northwest sensibility to the architecture,” Generator Studio architect Andrew Kesel said in an interview that day. “Rather than just rubber stamping a hockey venue all around the country, we really like to get in touch with the area the project’s going to be in, learn those sensibilities and try to bring that to the architecture.”

It generally takes 13-to-18 months to build a practice facility and so the race was on to have KCI ready for the team’s September 2021 training camp.  

But construction had barely begun when it halted in late March 2020 due to the pandemic. It did not resume until April 24 and then saw further brief delays due to intermittent events, including historic wildfire air quality alerts. 

One final curveball came the night of Jan. 9, 2021, when crews demolishing the former Nordstrom building adjacent KCI allowed a falling wall and debris to crash into the future Kraken practice facility. No one was hurt, but the accident damaged the west wall of KCI – right where the planned restaurant was. 

Lopes said the accident was “a significant setback” that took three weeks just to clean up so crews could start working again. But fortunately, he added, the falling debris did not damage mechanical units within the building – which would have taken longer to replace.  

When finally done, KCI construction took 19 months from start to finish. 

"As other things stopped, they kept going, and it wasn't easy," Leiweke would say at the facility’s opening ceremonies. "It's goosebumps, and it's payback for so many people that believed in us." 

Thirteen days later, the facility opened for fans to watch the very first Kraken training camp workout.    

But there was no on-site restaurant yet as pandemic-related shipping slowdowns delayed the opening of 32 Bar & Grill by about six weeks. Tables and chairs needed for future patrons were sitting out on a barge in the Puget Sound, unable to clear customs because of strict COVID protocols.  

When the restaurant finally opened in November 2021, it had about half the furniture it now does and nothing along the glass windows overlooking the rinks. Looking back at it now, with the restaurant and other KCI facilities running smoothly for five years, the taxing effort seems worth it. 

“It really all came together at the last minute,” Kraken legal counsel Lopes said. “But when you look at what it became, it’s everything we’d imagined from the beginning. We got the three rinks. We put them in Seattle. We’ve got all the hockey and all of the great things going on in and around the building.  

“When you look around the league, you’d be hard pressed to find a venue that does as much to serve both hockey and the community around it. When you look at what a draw it’s become, it’s as good as and likely better than anything we’d imagined.”