Sports Minister Yvette Berry met with Geocon on Monday to discuss the future of the Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre after the high-rise developer bought the lease for the site last month.
Ms Berry said the company's director Nick Georgalis confirmed Geocon would continue to operate the centre as required by the current lease conditions.
The meeting came as the government pledged its full support behind a proposal for a new international-standard ice skating facility in Tuggeranong.
The new facility, dubbed Canberra Arena, is due to be completed in 2025 with the developer of the arena saying it was their intention to deliver the project as quickly as possible.
Ms Berry was out at the proposed Greenway site on Monday morning to promote the new facility, however, she was dogged by questions about the sale and future of the Phillip site.
"I'll be meeting with Geocon [on Monday afternoon] to really fully understand what their plans are for that site," Ms Berry said.
"At this stage they've said publicly that they're going to continue to operate the ice sports and get the pool up and running so we'll take them at their word."
Following the meeting, Ms Berry's office said Geocon had reaffirmed its intention to continue operating the centre and fix the 50-metre pool.
While this is required by the current lease conditions this could change following the construction of the Tuggeranong facility, as the territory plan states there only needs to be one ice skating rink in Canberra.
Ms Berry said the ice sports community had wanted a site in Canberra's south and said there was no suitable site in the Woden area for this.
"When we were talking with ice sports and the ice skating community there was a real preference that it was on the south side," she said.
"A land of this size to be able to hold a facility of this type. There's not that much available across the city and this was a piece of land that suited the needs of the facility.
"Nothing [was available in Woden] that was zoned appropriately and was available to be used for this purpose."
The Tuggeranong arena will be developed by Cruachan Investments Pty Ltd and its development partner Pelligra Holdings Pty Ltd. It is expected to cost $50 million with the ACT government to contribute $16 million.
Ms Berry said the Greenway site would be sold to the developers through a direct land sale but she would not speculate on how much it would be sold for.
The facility will include two ice rinks, Australian-first dedicated curling lanes and indoor rock climbing.
The developers have a design for the facility and will now move to a detailed design process to ensure its suitability for the site. The developer is hopeful a development application will be approved by the end of the year.
Labor first announced plans for a new ice skating rink in the 2016 election. The ACT government sought expressions of interest in 2019 for a developer to build and manage a centre and Cruachan was selected in 2020.
Pelligra chairman Ross Pelligra said the company wanted to accelerate the development of the facility.
"For us, it's all about delivering the project quickly. We've heard that it's taken nine years to get the project to where it is today," he said.
"We want to fast-track that. We believe in 'build it and they'll come' so for us it's about delivering the project. It's about delivering the projects for the next generation of kids.
"We want to see this project come out of the ground really quick."
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