Town finds a short term leasee for Stoneham Arena snack shack
Published on January 23rd, 2008
STONEHAM, MA - Town Administrator David Ragucci recently inked a new short-term lease agreement for the Stoneham Arena snack shack, which had stood shackled to rink users for close to a year.
According to Selectmen John DePinto and Paul Rotondi, Ragucci awarded the concession stand lease last month to William Kaufman until the end of the hockey season.
The town had closed the concession stand for the first half of the high school hockey season, and lost out on a solid level of revunue from the multiple high school hockey teams that call the Stoneham Arena home this season.
Previously, Stoneham Youth Hockey (SYH), which rebuilt the snack shack area after the rink amenity was abandoned years ago, had managed the concessions.
The agreement was extended for such a short period, because town officials plan to wrap the concessions into any potential lease agreement for the entire Stoneham Arena.
The Town Administrator is currently exploring whether to solicit proposals for the rink in early February.
"He signed a four month lease for someone to handle the concessions at the rink," confirmed Rotondi, who believed the town would receive $1,000 a month through the deal. "We can't do anything else, because if we go out to bid for the whole thing, that's part of it."
According to SYH officer Charles Houghton, the non-profit hockey league walked away from the concession stand after a leak sprung in the Arena roof last winter.
Anticipating a health revenue influx from a series of MIAA tournament hockey games scheduled at the skating complex, SYH lost money on the snack shack for the year when the leaky roof led to the cancellation of those contests.
"The straw that broke the camel's back was when the roof leaked. We were going to have 15 games and we lost all of them. Stoneham Youth Hockey was depending on that," the local attorney explained.
Houghton, who commented on the snack shack before another lease was inked, admitted to being frustrated with the situation, and looked forward to the reopening of the concessions.
According to the Arena advocate, he fought hard to restore the amenity to the rink and believed that the concessions could turn a profit for another user.
"It's very frustrating to me. I was one of the moving forces to get the snack bar back and youth hockey paid for it. It's a shame," said Houghton.
"It wasn't anybody's fault. The roof leaked, and we would have stayed in there except for that. Even if we didn't run it, if it was open, it would be a nice thing to have for games."
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