The Maple Grove Community Center is closing in stages. The pools closed first, the gym closes next spring, and nearly everything else follows next summer. Through every stage on the city's schedule, the Ice Arena stays open. For the next two winters, the rinks are the one part of 12951 Weaver Lake Road you can plan around. Water programs have spread out to sites across town, and the rest of the building's calendar is shrinking toward the ice.
The rinks also got bigger right before the closures began. Phase 1 of the project added a third NHL-size sheet of ice, along with a new arena entrance, team rooms, a concourse, seating and a lobby. So the part of the building that never closes is also the newest part.
The building empties in three steps
The city calls every date below tentative and subject to change as construction moves along.
| When | What closes | What's still open |
|---|---|---|
| September 8, 2026 | Grove Cove indoor and outdoor pools, waterslide | Ice Arena, gym, Teen Center, Maple Maze, Senior Center, banquet and rental rooms, Parks and Recreation office |
| March 2027 | Gymnasium and Teen Center | Ice Arena, Maple Maze, Senior Center, banquet and rental rooms, Parks and Recreation office |
| July 2027 | Maple Maze, Senior Center, banquet room, meeting and rental rooms, Parks and Recreation office | Ice Arena only, with access routes and parking subject to change |
After July 2027, the main Community Center building is closed to the public. The Parks and Recreation office will move to the Maple Grove Government Center for a while, and the city says it will share new hours and contact information before the move. Programs that used to meet in the gym and Teen Center will move to schools, parks and partner sites around Maple Grove. That means the address on each registration matters more than it used to.
Reopening runs in the same order as the closing. The renovated Community Center is scheduled for May 2028, the aquatic center for June 2028, and a new city Activity Center for December 2028. HometownSource reported that the pools will be closed until June 2028, which works out to about 21 months without Grove Cove.
Water now means a class, not a drop-in
The biggest change since September is how you get into a pool. Grove Cove had open water you could walk into. The replacement sites run on registration. City swim lessons for ages 18 months through adult have moved to two places.
- Osseo Middle School, 10223 93rd Ave. N. One example is Adult Swim All Levels on Thursday evenings, 8:10 to 8:55 p.m. The fall session runs October 1 through November 19, 2026, and costs $156.
- Holiday Inn & Suites Venetian Waterpark, 11801 Fountains Way. Classes here include Age 3 Without Parent, a lesson for cautious beginners that covers face submersion, supported front and back glides, and beginning strokes and kicks, with three kids per instructor.
The Venetian Waterpark is easy to misread. The hotel says the waterpark is for registered guests only and doesn't sell day passes. A city class there gets your child into that pool. Showing up on a Saturday afternoon does not. The city's fall guide and registration pages list lessons and water fitness classes but no general open swim.
Older adults have two water fitness options in the Fall 2026 55 Forward guide. SilverCreek on Main, 8200 Main St. N., runs a class focused on joint flexibility. The Holiday Inn pool at 11801 Fountains Way N. hosts a general conditioning class.
The rinks are still where things happen
Ice programs haven't had to move. The 55 Forward guide lists free open skate for adults 55 and older on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 10 a.m. at the Community Center's TCO Rink. It also lists a free informal hockey skate for the same group on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m. at Kottemann Rink. These are two of the few recurring, free, drop-in activities still running under the Community Center roof this fall.
The city hasn't posted a full public open-skate schedule for the arena this season. Check the city's registration site before you load the car. One thing to plan for after July 2027: the city says the arena stays open but access routes and parking may change during construction. The door you've always used may not be the one you use in 2028.
For skating outdoors, the Central Park ice skating loop at 12000 Central Park Way is a refrigerated loop 810 feet long and 20 feet wide. Skating is free, and skate rentals cost extra. Between the indoor rinks and the loop, Maple Grove's skating options haven't shrunk at all during construction.
The building's last full holiday season before July 2027
The rooms that close in July 2027 still host events this season, and the calendar is full. Most of these won't be in the main building next winter, when it will be closed to the public.
- Maple Grove Lions Holiday Craft Boutique, November 7, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. About 65 vendors, free admission, at the Community Center.
- Indoor farmers markets, 3 to 6 p.m., on November 12, November 24, December 10 and December 22. These move indoors to the Community Center after the outdoor market ends on October 15.
- MGCO Breakfast with Santa, December 5, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., and Lunch with Santa, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Both are at 12951 Weaver Lake Road, and registration for both opens November 1. Use the December 5 date from MGCO's event pages. The organization's homepage still shows an older date.
The Lions Pavilion and inclusive playground on the Community Center grounds opened July 20 as part of Phase 1. The pavilion has a roof and a restroom. Like the third sheet of ice, it's new, built in Phase 1, and outside the area being shut down.
Through the end of October, the drive to the building includes the Weaver Lake Road project near I-94. The city's October 2 update listed striping, plantings and traffic control as remaining work and forecast completion in mid-to-late October.
When indoors feels small, Elm Creek is the other big winter venue
Indoor options get thinner from here. Next winter, the main building will be closed to the public. Elm Creek Park Reserve's Douglas F. Bryant Winter Recreation Area, at 12400 James Deane Parkway, is the largest winter venue nearby. It has a lighted tubing hill with lifts and snowmaking, beginner downhill skiing and snowboarding, and 18.3 kilometers of cross-country routes. Of those, 5.8 kilometers are lit and 2.5 kilometers have snowmaking.
Three Rivers hasn't posted an opening date for the season yet. Lesson registration has dates, though. Public downhill lessons open for registration October 20 at 8 a.m., and private lessons open November 12 at 8 a.m.
Fish Lake Regional Park, at 14900 Bass Lake Road, is a quieter option. Three Rivers lists turf trails for winter snowshoeing and hiking, plus paved trails and ice fishing.
What the 2028 building looks like, and where Life Time goes
The longer timeline is tied to a land swap. Life Time is building a new two-story club of about 120,000 square feet in the Minnesota Health Village, south of Highway 610 and west of Home Depot. Plans include an outdoor pool deck, a salon and indoor pickleball courts. HometownSource put the size at 115,000 square feet. The current club stays open until the new one is ready, which is expected in late 2027. The city then takes over the 70,000-square-foot space and turns it into the Activity Center. The city plans cardio and strength equipment, fitness studios, a large indoor playground and an indoor walking track there.
When Grove Cove reopens, it will have three indoor pools: a tot pool with slides and sprays, a program pool with two slides, and a six-lane lap pool. Outside, a zero-entry pool with spray features and two deep-end slides is planned. In May 2026, CCX reported that a design change cut one outdoor body slide and kept two.
The cost estimate has changed as plans have firmed up. An earlier HometownSource story put Phase 2 at $73.24 million. CCX reported just under $72 million in January 2026 and $70.1 million in May 2026. Most of the project's funding comes from the half-cent sales tax voters approved in 2022.
Until then, the TCO Rink, Kottemann Rink and the new third sheet of ice are the only part of the building on Weaver Lake Road that stays open through every stage.
If a change in your household's routine has you weighing a move across Maple Grove, our team at Tolle Real Estate Group knows how the construction schedule affects each corner of the city and can help you plan around it. Schedule a Consultation when you're ready to talk it through.
