The Promenade Is Rebuilding Around Its Ice Rink This Winter
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
In early October, a construction crew at the Promenade Shops at Centerra in east Loveland was digging up the dirt where the ice skating rink used to be. That same week another crew was putting a new roof on Dick's Sporting Goods, and Famous Footwear had a new storefront that didn't look like the beige ones next to it.
The owner, Galway Companies, is remodeling the whole center, and the rink is the piece meant to open first, before the holidays. A November 2026 visit will show how the Promenade is changing. The rink is meant to be the gathering place the rest of the center is designed around, and most of the street around it won't be finished until spring 2027.
Galway Companies, a real estate firm from Wisconsin, bought the Promenade in August 2025 for $55 million. It was the company's first property in Colorado. The center is a 494,500-square-foot open-air shopping center. By Galway's count it gets about 3.8 million visits a year, or more than 70,000 a week.
Founding principal Steve Doran told the Loveland Reporter-Herald that the rink was one of the company's biggest projects. He said it is being torn out completely and replaced with a landscaped area that can be used in summer and winter. Here is how he described the new design to the paper:
"It creates a nicer place, rather than big platforms that people have to walk around, it'll be a nice open space with fire pits that people will be able to ... view their children and their grandchildren skate much easier than they can right now."
So the old raised platforms are gone. They are being replaced by open ground with fire pits around the ice, where people can watch skaters without standing at a rail. The company's October 6 announcement says the redesigned rink should open in late November 2026. The Reporter-Herald, writing the same day, said the rink was expected to be done by November. Neither gave an exact date.
Doran tied the rink to a long-term plan. He told the Reporter-Herald that Galway typically doesn't sell its properties and is setting the center up "for the next 20, 30, 40 years." In the company's announcement, he said Galway is "leaning into traditions families in this area have loved for a generation – from ice skating to holiday events and activations." The rink is the oldest of those traditions, and it is the first one being rebuilt.
The rink opens while the rest of the center is still being worked on. Galway's announcement says every building is being renovated. It lists this work as either finished or in progress as of October 2026:
Galway expects to finish the wider streetscape work in spring 2027. That means a December evening at the rink may also include scaffolding, new roofs and some storefronts that are done next to others that aren't. Doran told the Reporter-Herald the facade work is meant to give each store "their own unique identity," because right now "most of the storefronts blend together."
New stores are arriving on a similar schedule. Galway signed nine new leases totaling 37,643 square feet in its first year as owner. Here is where each one stands, based on the Promenade's What's New page and the October announcement:
| Store | Status |
|---|---|
| Christopher & Banks | Listed as now open |
| Windsor | Listed as now open |
| MINISO | Listed as coming soon |
| JD Sports | Expected by spring 2027 |
| Hot Topic | Expected by spring 2027 |
| BoxLunch | Expected by spring 2027 |
| Cabinet IQ | Expected by spring 2027 |
| Hot Pot Grill | Expected by spring 2027 |
| Los Dos Potrillos | Expected by spring 2027 |
The two restaurants on the list, Hot Pot Grill and Los Dos Potrillos, are in the spring group, so they won't be open this holiday season. The rink and the fall stores are the main new things this year. Most of the dining and the finished streetscape come later.
Centerra's 2026 holiday events show how much the season depends on the new rink. The Promenade events on Centerra's Santa's Home for the Holidays page are set for three days in December, and two of them include skating:
Two other Centerra holiday events take place away from the Promenade. The tree lighting, called Flip the Switch, is Friday, November 13, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Chapungu Sculpture Park. Loveland Santa's Workshop, the holiday market, is Saturday, December 5, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Loveland Visitor Center.
The tree lighting falls on the same evening as the start of the City of Loveland's Ski & Sports Swap at the Chilson Recreation Center, 700 E. Fourth St. General admission hours are Friday, November 13, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, November 14, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. General admission is free, and the swap raises money for youth scholarships. The swap is a good place to find used skates before the rink opens.
The new season's rink hours and prices haven't been posted yet. The rink's website still shows last season's schedule, which ran November 21, 2025, through January 26, 2026. Since the late-November opening has no fixed date, check that page before you plan a skate night.
Galway is investing in a part of Loveland that is getting more crowded with stores. Its announcement notes that Bass Pro Shops is now open near the I-25 and U.S. 34 interchange, with Costco, Whole Foods Market and King Soopers planned nearby.
The Whole Foods will be part of Avenue South, the development once called Centerra South. It covers 149 acres southwest of U.S. 34 and I-25. The Reporter-Herald reported in September that 203,000 square feet of retail space is under construction there, and that Whole Foods is aiming to open in October 2027. Avenue South is also planning a public open space called the "Front Porch," with an amphitheater for up to 500 people and a walking trail to Loveland Sports Park. It is expected to open in 2027.
That puts two public gathering spaces on the same interchange in 2027, one on each side of U.S. 34. Galway's rink with its fire pits opens this season, about a year before the amphitheater across the highway. Galway's announcement says the fall and winter will be "some of the first opportunities for the community to experience that evolution." It lists the late-November rink opening and the December reindeer, breakfast and photo events as the first examples.
For east Loveland, this winter shows how the rebuilt center looks in use. The new rink will be open, Christopher & Banks and Windsor are already open, and the rest of the remodel continues through spring 2027.
If you own a home near Centerra, projects like the Promenade's rebuild and Avenue South's 2027 openings help shape how buyers see the area over the next few years. To talk through how east Loveland's changes might affect your plans, Beth Bishop Real Estate offers a Complimentary Home Strategy Consultation.
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