April 30, 2026

Kraken confirms plan for $60M Kirkland iceplex, to open next year

Renderings via Generator Studio [enlarge]

The 80,000-squre-foot building will have two rinks, various amenities and space for community events.

Plans have been brewing in Kirkland for three-plus years to develop a sports and recreation facility on the decommissioned former Houghton Park & Ride property, which the city now owns. The Kraken and Seattle Hockey Partners entered the picture early last year, working with architect Generator Studio, as the DJC then reported.

The Kirkland City Council was scheduled to approve a $1 per year ground lease in December, plus related legislation. And this week came the official NHL and Kraken announcement confirming the plan. A groundbreaking is anticipated next month, with BNBuilders to be the general contractor for the $60 million job. (It also built the Kraken's Northgate Station facility, also designed by Generator.)

The two-story iceplex will be entirely privately funded. A 13-month building schedule was previously estimated.

An approximately 80,000-squre-foot building will have two rinks, a restaurant, shop, various amenities and space for community events and gatherings. The full and official name is the Kraken Iceplex Kirkland and Kirkland Community Center. It'll occupy all or part of the 5-acre site at 6920 116th Ave. N.E. That's east of Interstate 405, at the Northeast 72nd Place overpass.

Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke said in a statement, “We are grateful to the city of Kirkland for their partnership to create our second iceplex, and bring the same energy to the Eastside. We want to keep growing the game and meeting our fans where they are.”

[enlarge]

The official name is the Kraken Iceplex Kirkland and Kirkland Community Center.

Kirkland Mayor Kelli Curtis added, “This project will create new opportunities for our community to gather, learn, and play, and it will bring both significant economic investment and the excitement of professional hockey to Kirkland. This partnership delivers public benefit, significant private investment, and long-term economic vitality to our city with no new taxes.”

After opening in the fall of next year, the facility is hoped to generate $7 million in annual economic activity.

As with the Northgate iceplex, the Kirkland facility will be available for the public to rent for classes, youth hockey, figure skating, parties, etc. The team's One Roof Foundation seeks to encourage more youth hockey, including free ice sessions. The team says the new facility will be located within two miles of five Eastside schools, and that some 40 area schools are now part of the broader Kraken network — now centered around Northgate Station.

That network overlaps with the Kraken Skating Academy, whose Chad Goodwin said, “More ice allows for more training time, playing time and coaching time. We've welcomed 12,500 skaters who hit the ice for the first time. It's always a pleasure to watch these young skaters grow up in the building and around the rink. It's an amazing community, on and off the ice.”

The Kirkland team also includes Stantec lighting, fire safety, acoustics MEP, and ice engineering; Coughlin Porter Lundeen, civil engineer; GGLO, landscape architect; Bush, Roed & Hitchings, surveyor; Holmes, structural engineer; and Forge Building Co., of Boise, which will fabricate portions of the mostly pre-engineered metal structure.