Mt. Pleasant SportZone closes; hockey rinks for sale
An East Huntingdon indoor sports arena and entertainment center that had multiple names through almost 20 years and drew hundreds of boys, girls and their families for weekend inline hockey and other tournaments will have an entirely new purpose.
Snowplows, salt spreaders and tree cutter supplies will soon fill the building.
The Mt. Pleasant SportZone on Bessemer Drive — also recently known as HotShots — is in the process of being sold, said Tim Davis, who is a partner with Mike Gerger in Davis Gerger Enterprises of Hempfield, which owns the 6.2-acre parcel.
Ryan Lewandowski, owner of R&L Supply LLC of Cedar Drive, East Huntingdon, is buying the site, which he said will give him room to expand the business that sells new and used equipment. The new location will have about 50,000 square feet under roof, Lewandowski said Friday.
“It’s a great location,” Lewandowski said of the site off the northbound lanes of Route 119.
More people drive that stretch of Route 119 compared to his site off Route 819, and that could result in more business, Lewandowski said.
With a sales agreement in place and expected to be complete in the next few weeks, Lewandowski is selling the furnishings, including the two rinks, which are 180 feet by 80 feet in size.
He said there has been some interest from people who want to acquire the rinks. He is selling them at $25,000 apiece and acknowledged there will be a considerable amount of work in disassembling the rinks and moving them out of the building.
Lewandowski recalled playing hockey at the arena when he was younger. The rinks “will be taken down in the near future” because of “different plans with the building it is in,” according to a Facebook posting that Lewandowski created Wednesday.
The arena has been closed since at least July. Murrysville SportZone had been managing the property, but that relationship ended earlier this year.
Davis said he would have liked to have the facility kept as a sports arena, but that was not possible, given the challenges in managing such a facility.
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Roller Hockey League had used the rink for some of its games. Bob Raida, president of the roller hockey league, could not be reached for comment Friday.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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