Jan 17, 2018 3 min read

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Back in 1995 when the Iceoplex at Southpointe opened, it was a pretty big deal. The Pittsburgh Penguins were practicing there, local scholastic and youth hockey leagues finally had an ice rink close to home, and there was even a place for roller hockey and indoor soccer. Aspiring figure skaters could get lessons. Ice skating was now an option for something for kids and teens to do on Friday nights, and Jay’s Sports Bar was a welcome addition to the local dining and night scene. For yours truly, it was a first job at the age of 16 – knowing little about hockey, I somehow landed a part-time gig working in the pro-shop selling hockey equipment, and even changing out stick blades with a blowtorch.

Alas, over the years, the space saw its share of troubles. The rink went up for sale in 2012, the Penguins stopped practicing there in 2015, and there were a slew of tax and financial issues, not to mention turnover on the restaurant side. There was a period of time when the whole thing just seemed to be doomed.

But no more.

Late last year, the complex was purchased and renamed Printscape Arena at Southpointe. Bubba’s Burghers just opened where BLVD was following the closure of Jay’s. There are programs upon programs for athletes of all ages, and the Southpointe Fitness Center is a place to work out. New life has been breathed into the building. Observer-Reporter business editor Michael Bradwell has more details in his cover story on page 6.

It’s a new year, and with a new year comes new year’s resolutions. The number one resolution, unsurprisingly, is to get in shape/lose weight. One of the first steps on that journey should be finding out where you are right now, so you have a baseline measurement for your accomplishments – or setbacks. At the Health Club at Southpointe, a high-tech machine called Styku can give you a detailed, computerized body model and a barrage of health information in less than three minutes. Writer Heather Holtschlag gave it a go, and it helped her to realize that she was in better shape than she thought – and that the number drilled into hear head by her childhood pediatrician wasn’t a healthy goal to work towards. You can read here story on page 10.

Finally, you’ll notice that the look of Southpointe Today is different than you remember. We thought the new year was a good time to freshen things up and refocus. We’ve got some exciting stories planned for this year and we look forward to sharing them with you.

Best,

Katie Green