Josh Matlow (Ward 22) has announced that Toronto has signed a ten-year lease on the Hodgson Senior Public School Ice Rink on Davisville Ave. The rink is one of a few artificially supported outdoor rinks in the city and has been out of use this season– at least officially — because of needed repairs to the aging facility. But with the Toronto District School Board’s agreement to lease the rink, the City will now proceed with an estimated $2 million in repairs. It expects to have Hodgson Rink back in service for the fall of 2014. The lease also has a two year notice clause which means it seems likely that the rink will be in service for at least 12 years. It sits on TDSB property and Hodgson is an aging structure. Built in 1915, it’s nearly a century old. The future of the present school building probably can’t be predicted much beyond the term of the lease. Any decision to replace it or make major changes would probably mean the end of the rink at that site.
