Courtesy of Roller Knights. Beautiful graphic art for their logo! And very creative with the name! Sounds like a team but this is not a roller hockey team per se. Because of the small size rink they had.
Courtesy of Google Map. Noticed the difference. Problem with this is that Google Map says it was taken in 2008 (the Blue mansard canopy. The Arab Tribune article showed real time photograph of the mayor and several people in a ribbon cutting ceremony in October 2010 showing the gray canopy like the one in Google Map taken in June 2014. The Blue version was May 2008. Did they eliminated the blue BEFORE the rink because the Royal Blue was part of the rink and so forth that it should have been on the building. The blue circle on the wall is blurred and I had no idea what it said. The warehouse business before the rink?
Courtesy of Roller Knights on Facebook. Did they owned this box van? Nice vehicle wrap! I could not read what it said as I zoom it larger here and it was small on Google search for the rink. Unfortunately there are no photograph of the rink itself. Was this van a promotional vehicle going around or something?
Arab Roller Knights Skating Rink 410 North Main Street, Arab, AL
Roller Knights 410 North Main Street, Arab, AL
Roller Knights 410 North Main Street, Arab, AL
Arab Roller Knights Skating Rink was in none other than Arab, Alabama. It was established in 2010 when they were working on a new road extension so it was good timing for that. Originally in that spot was a G-store, Piggly Wiggly. Then the most recently was a warehouse for The Home Place. It was the town's first G-store in that spot.
The building is 1 of 2 on same property that is a plaza. It was called Arab City Center. The newspaper said Arab Mini Mall but apparently that was not the name of the building.
Roller Knights was a simplified version of the same name.
It sits in the rear side facing the Main Street in a very simple plaza. It appeared to be almost entire section of the plaza inclusive to the 14,000 Square Foot rink. The other part of the plaza that is 90 degree about face were all plaza. Apparently they opened at the end of the year 2010 and before 2014 according to Google Map.
Jim Wilhelm owned and operated the Roller Knights.
In June 2011, as it has been opened for about half year, Jim, the owner faced a new problem- Noise violations. There was a town strict ordinance that was misinterpreted and neighbors could hear the noise. It was bad. The debate in the town meeting was long. It was 40 minutes debate. Jim wanted the ordinance to be changed. There were quite a number of situations.
They had a Facebook page but it is gone.
Jim Wilheim was losing money although the rink was very popular. It was not generating revenue. What was making worse was that the owners of the plaza did not fix the roof and there was leaking and thus, damaged to the rink floor and concessions that skaters noticed problems and avoided just like that. He said he was seeking for an attorney. This was 6 years before I wrote this and apparently it was a failure to provide repairs to the roof.
It was so bad that the water also damaged the pool tables that Jim rented and the children could not play billiards because of the buckets were on the tables!
When you want to open a business in an older plaza, be sure you check their roofs! it cost you thousands for a wood floor plus billiards tables which cost more than video games and then there are concessions stand, the electronics for the DJ.. think about that. Roof life is 30 years give or take depends on how bad the weather weathered the roof in your area. And always check their clauses in contracts. Be sure you want to add that if they lied about the roof or promised to fix but never did or even made a fraud about roof repairs, then the owner of the building must pay for it no matter what and in lawsuit it will make your life easier to sue. It is sad that Roller Knights apparently is not coming back.
The Interior.
The 14,000 Square Foot rink building was leased for the rink. It had 73 X 108 / 7,884 SF for the rink itself. They said this was nearly twice the size than the other Arab, Alabama rink that was established cross the street from the Arab Tribune Newspaper.
The Exterior.
It is one of the two buildings that held the rink. It is a plaza. Flat roof building with decorative Mansard however, not entire building. When the rink was opened, they had it in Blue for the Mansard roof but they changed back in 2014 to Gray. Originally, before the rink, it was same Gray! Apparently because of the rink, they were the majority tenant and paid for the entire plaza to be in that Blue. It appeared to be Royal Blue.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 73 X 108 / 7,884 SF (Small) Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: 14,000 SF. Built: N/A. Demolished: Still Standing.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Truss Steel-Walled Warehouse Building.
Roof: Flat with partial Mansard.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: December 31, 2010 (D&B says 2011) to Sunday April 13, 2014.
Reason for Closure: Due to the owners’ claimed inability to make rent for the eight months prior to April 2014, it has been evicted from the property.
Wanted: Information regarding photos both interior and exterior. Why closed? What material for the floor and size of the rink itself.
Anyone has pictures and/or information please let me know at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources: Dun & Bradstreet, The Arab Tribune- October 11, 2010, Facebook (closed account-retrieved photographs),
Rink Time, The Arab Tribune - Closing of rink. The Arab Tribune - June 22, 2010 on noise ordinance.
© 2019-2020 Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved.
The building is 1 of 2 on same property that is a plaza. It was called Arab City Center. The newspaper said Arab Mini Mall but apparently that was not the name of the building.
Roller Knights was a simplified version of the same name.
It sits in the rear side facing the Main Street in a very simple plaza. It appeared to be almost entire section of the plaza inclusive to the 14,000 Square Foot rink. The other part of the plaza that is 90 degree about face were all plaza. Apparently they opened at the end of the year 2010 and before 2014 according to Google Map.
Jim Wilhelm owned and operated the Roller Knights.
In June 2011, as it has been opened for about half year, Jim, the owner faced a new problem- Noise violations. There was a town strict ordinance that was misinterpreted and neighbors could hear the noise. It was bad. The debate in the town meeting was long. It was 40 minutes debate. Jim wanted the ordinance to be changed. There were quite a number of situations.
They had a Facebook page but it is gone.
Jim Wilheim was losing money although the rink was very popular. It was not generating revenue. What was making worse was that the owners of the plaza did not fix the roof and there was leaking and thus, damaged to the rink floor and concessions that skaters noticed problems and avoided just like that. He said he was seeking for an attorney. This was 6 years before I wrote this and apparently it was a failure to provide repairs to the roof.
It was so bad that the water also damaged the pool tables that Jim rented and the children could not play billiards because of the buckets were on the tables!
When you want to open a business in an older plaza, be sure you check their roofs! it cost you thousands for a wood floor plus billiards tables which cost more than video games and then there are concessions stand, the electronics for the DJ.. think about that. Roof life is 30 years give or take depends on how bad the weather weathered the roof in your area. And always check their clauses in contracts. Be sure you want to add that if they lied about the roof or promised to fix but never did or even made a fraud about roof repairs, then the owner of the building must pay for it no matter what and in lawsuit it will make your life easier to sue. It is sad that Roller Knights apparently is not coming back.
The Interior.
The 14,000 Square Foot rink building was leased for the rink. It had 73 X 108 / 7,884 SF for the rink itself. They said this was nearly twice the size than the other Arab, Alabama rink that was established cross the street from the Arab Tribune Newspaper.
The Exterior.
It is one of the two buildings that held the rink. It is a plaza. Flat roof building with decorative Mansard however, not entire building. When the rink was opened, they had it in Blue for the Mansard roof but they changed back in 2014 to Gray. Originally, before the rink, it was same Gray! Apparently because of the rink, they were the majority tenant and paid for the entire plaza to be in that Blue. It appeared to be Royal Blue.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 73 X 108 / 7,884 SF (Small) Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: 14,000 SF. Built: N/A. Demolished: Still Standing.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Truss Steel-Walled Warehouse Building.
Roof: Flat with partial Mansard.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: December 31, 2010 (D&B says 2011) to Sunday April 13, 2014.
Reason for Closure: Due to the owners’ claimed inability to make rent for the eight months prior to April 2014, it has been evicted from the property.
Wanted: Information regarding photos both interior and exterior. Why closed? What material for the floor and size of the rink itself.
Anyone has pictures and/or information please let me know at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources: Dun & Bradstreet, The Arab Tribune- October 11, 2010, Facebook (closed account-retrieved photographs),
Rink Time, The Arab Tribune - Closing of rink. The Arab Tribune - June 22, 2010 on noise ordinance.
© 2019-2020 Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved.