Let it roll! Another skating rink is coming to Newport News

NEWPORT NEWS — Newport News City Council has decided to roll with a plan to bring a new skating rink to the Denbigh area.

Last week, the council approved a conditional use permit that will allow for the construction of a roller-skating rink, along with a jungle gym, arcade and food kiosks in the DW Center, formerly Denbigh Village Shopping Center, at Denbigh and Warwick boulevards.

City documents say the project will “further implement the goal of converting the original shopping center into a family entertainment destination within the city.”

“I’ve been here for a number of cases involving the same shopping center, and what an asset it has been to the city,” Newport News Planning Commission Chairperson Sharyn Fox said at the May commission meeting. “It has transformed that area and that shopping center and I’m very happy to see that it’s doing well.”

An investment firm purchased the underperforming shopping center in 2016. At the time, approximately 50% of the storefronts were vacant. The center is now nearly full and has undergone renovations and lighting and security upgrades.

It’s home to other entertainment venues including Tagtime Laser Tag, Breakout Adventure Games and Surge Adventure Park.

The rink — SK8 House Newport News — is expected to open in spring 2023, according to city documents. It will be able to hold up to 600 people and is expected to feature a snack bar, an ice cream and boba tea shop, as well as a bar with beer and wine.

The owner is listed on city records as a limited partnership named Mishorim Gold Newport News.

There’s one other skating rink in Newport News — Peninsula Family Skating Center — located on Main Street in the southern part of the city.

This will be the second SK8 House in the region. One opened in 2020 at the Lynnhaven North Shopping Center in Virginia Beach.

Jessica Nolte, 757-912-1675, jnolte@dailypress.com