$23M plan to demolish, replace ice rink named after legendary skater Dorothy Hamill

The Town of Greenwich is developing plans to demolish the skating rink named after ice skating legend Dorothy Hamill and replace it with a new 40,000-square-foot ice-skating center. Hamill, who won a gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games Innsbruck in 1976, grew up in Greenwich. Hamill won an Emmy Award for her appearance on TV in the program “Romeo & Juliet On Ice,” and for a time owned and operated the Ice Capades ice show.

The existing rink was built in 1971. The Greenwich First Selectmen expect to spend $23 million in Fiscal Year 2027, which begins in July 2026, on the construction project at the Eugene Morlot Memorial Park. The new rink would continue to be named in honor of Hamill.

In addition to a new building housing the new rick, the plans that have been developed so far incorporate improvements to parking, driveways, pathways and sidewalks around the rink along with a new ball field. While 22 trees are to be removed to make room for the ball field, 47 are to be planted, a net increase of 25 trees. It’s anticipated that construction would begin in the fall of 2026 and that the new skating building would open in the fall of 2027.

Greenwich says that the rink serves thousands of users each year including figure skaters, public skaters, youth hockey groups for boys and girls, and teams from Greenwich High School.

“At present, the 50-year-old facility has a number of fundamental and critical issues,” Greenwich says. “Notably substandard ice size and inadequate, aging, and non-code-compliant equipment, building systems and fixtures. The town intends to build a new, high quality single rink facility on the property capable of serving town users for the decades to come.”

The Morlot Memorial Park occupies 13.4 acres including the Dorothy Hamill Rink, Strazza Field baseball diamond, a parking lot, a playscape, swing set, the Byram Veterans’ Memorial Tree Grove, a wooded area and a grassy hillside.

The new skating rink building would be at the location of the existing rink. It would have an ice skating area measuring 200 feet by 85 feet and seating for 650. There would be locker rooms, a skate shop, lounge, meeting rooms, restrooms, and public lockers.