Jersey Cityans find warm, fuzzy feeling on outdoor rink ice

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

BY RUSSELL BEN-ALI

Star-Ledger Staff

As thousands crowded Rockefeller Center last week for the lighting of the Christmas tree, a scene in Jersey City promised a new holiday tradition on this side of the Hudson.

The massive Newport development has had its own tree-lighting ceremony for years, but last week it also opened an outdoor ice-skating rink on the waterfront, part of a long-running effort to pump some city life into the comparatively moribund downtown.

Cassandra Richards, who skated with her 4-year-old son, Lawrence, said: "The Rockefeller tree thing happens every year, and it's a big to-do, particularly if you're a true New Yorker or a tourist. I'm attached to the community, so it's good to see something like this happening here."

Several hundred people turned out for the opening of Newport Skates Ice Rink last Wednesday -- some, perhaps, enticed by the first-time offer of free skating.

"It's a beautiful little community rink right on the Hudson River," said rink builder Ron Kraut, whose Ice Rink Events of Texas runs "the Pond" rink in Manhattan's Bryant Park.

He pointed to Newport Skates' plexiglass dasher boards, which were built low enough for small children to grasp as they learn to maneuver down the ice. "Look at the intimacy of it. It's like having a pond at the end of your street. Let's not forget this beautiful view."

Some called the 7,000-square-foot space intimate, others small.

No matter the label, several said, the rink provides the opportunity for vigorous family activity, something in short supply amid Newport's high-rise luxury apartments, trendy restaurants and Newport Centre Mall.

"I definitely think that if they want to develop this area as a community, then they have to have stuff like this," said Newport resident Sajan Antony, 41, as he watched his 9-year-old son, Riaz, skate. "The rink's a great direction. It's something for kids to do in winter, in the absence of any other sports. This area has been mostly for single people, couples and people in transit."

That has been gradually changing as New Jersey's Gold Coast has grown. Tenants now stay in Newport for seven years on average, and not everyone in the surrounding neighborhoods is fleeing as their children approach school age.

Developers have tried to capitalize on the trend, introducing features to their projects that would appeal to families, such as open space and community theaters.

Newport developer Jamie LeFrak said the rink was the idea of Melvin Simon, of the Simon Organization, who partnered with the LeFraks to begin a transformation of the rundown Jersey City waterfront two decades ago.

"He thought, what a wonderful amenity that would be that's extremely appealing to families and young children," LeFrak said. "We wound up creating a plaza at the corner of River Drive and Newport Parkway, and the plaza seemed to be a terrific size and location to put a skating rink."

Jamie LeFrak declined to be specific about the rink's cost, saying only it was more than $1 million and the rink is unlikely to turn a profit. It is open to the public and sits in the plaza behind an HSBC Bank, which will sponsor the rink's first season.

Opening night was a mix of business, politics and community fun, with Oksana Baiul, the 1994 champion Olympic skater, providing a bit of star power.

Retired Jersey City teacher Gwen Davis, 58, was unable to wait out the long line of prospective skaters with her nephew, Jordan Davis, 6. While on the sidelines, she said she regretted that city development is so focused on downtown and the waterfront, where affordable housing options are rare.

By comparison, neglect and unemployment in inner-city areas like Greenville and Bergen/Lafayette create the perception of "two Jersey Citys," she said.

"But other than that, I think it's beautiful," Davis said as she sized up the rink. "It's getting me in the Christmas spirit."