TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Even in December you won’t see much ice here in the desert. But a sports complex—with an ice rink is coming together near I-10 and Kino and it just passed an important construction milestone.
The last piece of steel just went into the IcePlex at Mosaic Quarter. Soon the building will be full of ice and sports fans.
The tree a crane lifted to the top of the IcePlex has nothing to do with Christmas. It’s a builder’s tradition to use a pine tree to top out a building. It’s a symbol of luck, a wish for prosperity and a symbol of thanks for the workers who make the building possible.
Frank Knott is developing Mosaic Quarter—an extensive complex of sports and entertainment venues designed to attract people from down the street and across the country. As the builder of the complex, he wanted to honor the hands-on builders putting the Iceplex together.
“Being here is on behalf of the crews, their excitement to finish the last piece of steel, the last piece of major infrastructure in the building, and moving on to the internal workings of the building. It's a great day for them, so that's a great day for me.”
The IcePlex is the first building but Mosaic Quarter will include more— a field house for court sports, and venues for entertainment. It’s all built to be more than a place to play. It’s meant to build business. Pima County expects phase one to score $12.5 billion for the local economy over its first forty years.
“I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am and how honored I am to be here to be part of this.”
Yolanda Herrera has spent many years as an advocate for Sunnyside near Mosaic Quarter–she can see a lot of good flowing from the complex to her neighborhood and her neighbors.
“There's so many positives coming out of this. Number one, he's gonna put us on the map. Number two, he's really working with community neighbors, the children in the community, the seniors in the community. It's a job opportunity, economic development you can't see enough positives about this project.”
The Iceplex should be ready for skates and spectators by Spring 2027—and the field house should open a few months after that.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
