Gilroy has stopped actively pursuing a Sharks Ice skating facility at the Gilroy Sports Park after years of planning. The City Council voted unanimously on Oct. 5 to accept a finding that “no economically feasible path currently exists” to build it, the Gilroy Dispatch and San José Spotlight reported.
What was planned
The city and Sharks Sports & Entertainment, which owns the San Jose Sharks, began talks in 2019. The plan called for a 100,000-square-foot building with two NHL-size ice rinks, a restaurant, a snack bar, a pro shop and a 15,000-square-foot gym. It would have taken up about 9.1 acres of the sports park on Monterey Road.
Why it stalled
The cost estimate started at about $30 million, but construction and borrowing costs rose. Even a stripped-down design is now estimated at about $57 million, Assistant City Administrator Harjot Sangha told the council, according to the Dispatch. The city had planned to pay for most of it with bonds. Projected revenue from the rink could not cover the debt.
The city has spent about $1 million on pre-construction work such as architectural services and studies, Sangha said. Its share of off-site infrastructure costs has grown from $4 million in 2019 to about $10 million.
A council committee of Zach Hilton, Terence Fugazzi and Tom Cline was formed in August 2025 to look for a way to save the project. It presented its findings at the Oct. 5 meeting. No residents spoke for or against the project, San José Spotlight reported.
Not quite dead
“Both the city of Gilroy and Sharks Sports & Entertainment remain interested in pursuing the project if financial conditions change or if other partners come to the table,” city spokesperson Rachelle Bedell told San José Spotlight. The Sharks already run rinks in San Jose, Fremont and Oakland.
The council also voted to keep pursuing annexation of the 79-acre sports park into city limits.