Phelps won gold medals in all eight races he participated in during this year's Olympics - breaking a 36-year-old record for the most gold medals won in a single Olympics, held by swimmer Mark Spitz.
It is unclear how far along any business negotiations are.
A manager at Northwest Skating Rink deferred all questions to Eliasberg.
The rink has been in business for 37 years and has seen several Olympic athletes take to its ice, including Bel Air's Kimmie Meissner. Most of the people who attended yesterday's public skating session were aware that the rink is rumored to be closing by the end of the month.
Frances Culotta brought her 11-year-old daughter for what she says will be one of the final times.
She has already begun speaking of the place in the past tense.
"My middle daughter has been taking lessons here for a couple of years," Culotta said. "We live near Hunt Valley, so this was a good location for us. I don't know where we're going to go now."
The rink's management as of yesterday had not put out official word of the facility's future.
Donna Brust, who helps run the Baltimore Youth Hockey League, said that she has heard from several sources about Northwest shutting down and that she has no reason to doubt that.
Brust said that about 75 kids use the rink during the fall to play hockey and that she is in the process of looking at alternative sites in the Mount Pleasant Ice Arena, Patterson Park in the city or a new rink in Reisterstown.
"We're quite disappointed and surprised," Brust said.
Mallory Richards said she is a fall skating instructor at Northwest and has been using the facility for 33 years. Richards, who was not officially informed about the possible closing, said she has not received schedules for coming classes, something she usually has by now.
Richards said she cried when she heard talk late last week that the rink might close.
"I grew up in that area," Richards said. "It's a community draw for a lot of kids, especially for tween years when they have nowhere else to go. They can learn a skill, have fun and meet new friends. Those kids are going to be lost now."
brent.jones@baltsun.com
