Integrate Construction Partners served as the general contractor on the $5.2 million renovation to the City of Kirkwood, Missouri’s, community ice rink.
Partnered with owner’s representative Navigate Building Solutions and Chiodini Architects, Integrate developed and completed a construction plan that prioritized schedule and efficiency to complete the project within the five-month schedule.
Located in the Kirkwood Community Center at 111 S Geyer Road, the municipal ice rink was built in 1999 and generates a significant amount of revenue for the city’s parks and recreation department through its youth hockey and skating programs. The rink’s renovations were the final phase of an $11 million, three-phase project to upgrade the entire community center.
The ice rink renovations, which focused on modernizing key building systems and improving the performance and experience of the rink for athletes, families and spectators, included replacement of the rink’s aging R-22 refrigeration system with a modern ammonia-based one due to the ozone-depleting properties of the older system’s freon coolant.
The renovation also included installation of new underground drain tile and concrete ice slab with 12 miles of refrigeration piping, new perimeter dasher boards and protective glass, upgraded heating and dehumidification systems, and LED lighting improvements, plus painting the overhead structure.
The rink’s final day of operation before the renovation was on February 26, 2026, with construction beginning immediately after the ice had thawed. The rink was scheduled to reopen on August 1, leaving less than five months to complete the project.
Demolition presented a logistical challenge on the project as an existing 8-foot-wide overhead door could not accommodate the standard dump trucks required for removal of the concrete rink slab and demolition debris. Without an alternative access point, the material removal would have required additional labor, negatively impacting the project schedule.
To overcome the site’s access limitations, the demolition subcontractor created a temporary opening through the north foundation wall that allowed dump trucks direct access into the facility. This solution streamlined demolition operations, reduced manual material handling and helped maintain the accelerated construction schedule.
Because the project participated in Integrate’s community impact initiative, Integrate and several partners were able to make a $6,350 donation to the Kirkwood Parks Foundation at the project’s completion. Founded in 2024, the Integrate Community program is propelled through volunteering, MBE/WBE inclusion, donations and event sponsorships. To date, Integrate has donated nearly $100,000 to St. Louis area organizations doing good in their communities, which include The Women’s Safe House, Operation Food Search, Lake St. Louis Police Association, and CareSTL Health.
