MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — A small Ohio town is trying to bring in big business from across the state. A new $200M hotel and event center with three ice rinks is what developers are hoping will draw people in.

What You Need To Know

  • Developers are planning to invest about $200M to build a new event center on a mostly undeveloped part of Middletown on the East side

  • The event center is expected to have new housing and a hotel around it, concert space, and restaurants inside along with three ice rinks for hockey and figure skaters 

  • Coaches at nearby rinks, challenged with limited ice time, are already making plans to bring skating students there

It’s not every day that Adrienne Qualls gets the ice rink to herself and her students. She’s been coaching figure skating near Dayton for the last eight years.

“I teach every day, so I teach about five hours a day," Qualls said. 

She says sometimes getting time on ice can be a challenge, and her job depends on it. 

“A lot of times the hockey players in the events that they have kind of take over," Qualls said, “makes it hard to schedule lessons for sure. It makes it hard for us to have events, for showcases and competitions and things like that."

All that’s about to change because of some empty land on the east side of Middletown.

“We've been working on this project for a few years now. I think the original concept started in late 2020,” Warren County Development Director Matt Schnipke said.

He said the plan was to turn an old mall into a $200M event center and hotel, but when funding fell through, his team joined in with the city of Middletown to build from the ground up.

"The city of Middletown owned 25 acres of the land already, and they were able to get an option to purchase the additional 25,” Schnipke said. 

If everything goes as planned this time, he said, the hotel and event center will have new housing around it. Inside of it will be restaurants, concert space and three ice rinks.

It's a welcome addition for skaters and more business for coaches nearby.

“It's nice to have kind of a new community that we don't know of yet and new people to meet and lots of ice time and things like that," Qualls said. 

Developers say construction is expected to start on the hotel and event center in the next few weeks and you can expect to see it finished in fewer than two years.