As of July of 2014, Columbia Arena remains abandoned. It opened in the early 1960s and closed in 2006. I visited this place only to take photos of the exterior. I was shocked when I saw a door propped open. Naturally, I went inside and snapped a few photos after not seeing any "No Trespassing" signs. I hurried out of there because I could tell people were actively squatting there. The address is 7011 University Avenue NE in Fridley, Minnesota. I had originally reported this location was not used for the filming of D3 but I was wrong. This spot was used for ALL of the hockey scenes in the film.
The above still was taken from the film; below is that same side of the arena in 2014.
This is the part that threw me off...do you see those giant windows in the background of the above still from the film? They are not in the arena anymore and they have obviously been boarded up as you can see in my photo below. However, I did not notice
how they were boarded up from the inside
or the outside. This fact is why I was originally skeptical about this location actually being used in the film. However, after being told by people who were actually there during filming, those windows were a facade put up by the motion picture company and taken down after filming was complete.
OCTOBER 2015 UPDATE!
I am updating this filming location but it brings me great sadness to do so. The Columbia Arena could not be saved. The city of Fridley purchased it and are in the process of tearing it down as I type this. I went back to the arena on October 4th, 2015 and snapped the photo below. You can see building's side pillars still in the ground.
I took a brick home for a keepsake.
R.I.P. Columbia Ice Arena 1969-2015
The windows never existed. They were just a set piece for the film. I used to skate in the other arena as a kid and made a point to sneak onto the MD3 set whenever possible.
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