Skatepark De-volution

It's been over a year since Inner Space indoor skatepark closed its doors. It seems like an unfortunate trend in skateboarding that privately owned indoor parks don't stick around too long. The Skate Barn in Renton shut down a few months before Inner Space and while BISP has been holding it down strong for Seattle indoor skateboarding and The Garage has recently opened in Everet, it sure was nice to have an indoor park within the city limits.
I read/heard a statistic one time about ski resorts--that they start losing money the day the open. It was described that running a ski resort is essentially a hobby for rich dudes, until they get bored and pass the burden onto someone else. I guess running a skatepark is much the same, except skatepark owners aren't usually rich capitalists, but dirtbag skateboarders.
What's been particularly distressing about the closure of Inner Space is the fact that the facility was bought by Evo, a well-to-do snow bro shop with a thinly veiled interest in skateboarding. They sell skate shoes. They sell skate fashions which have been misappropriated by hipsters and popular culture as a whole and they sell longboards, cruisers, and some core skate products too. They talk the talk, but don't necessarily walk the walk (or roll the roll as it were).
I fling these allegations because it was widely known that when Evo purchased the dusty core skatepark as part of their glossy, sexy, fashion-orientated storefront, they made idle promises of preserving and incorporating elements of the skatepark into their business model. It would make sense for them to do so, and I wouldn't be writing this post about their failure to do it, because I support all skateparks whether their shop caters to the frat boy skier/longboard set or not. I skate at Rye Airfield, which is a great park, but also a bit of a razor scooter shop.
No one asks that Evo change their business model or marketing scheme. No one expects them to be some core shop selling only skate hard goods and the rawest skate shit. But they should have made good on giving Seattle skateboarders a place to ride in the rain when they bought, chewed up and spit out the only one we had.
A source close to both Evo and myself admits, "Evo bit off more than they could chew. Skateboarding has historically been the weakest link as far as what they sell. They thought the skatepark would be a way to strengthen that, but it turned out to be not as easy as they thought. Evo is definitely not moving on building a skatepark, for sure."
A visit to Evo and a conversation with an employee verified this. "We were just told (by the company) that we have no definite timeline on it", the young bro nervously informed me.
So it becomes a chicken and the egg scenario. If Evo had built or maintained the park as they were expected to have done when they bought the space, maybe more skateboarders would say, "Oh Evo is actually down for skateboarding, it's not just some yuppie store." But the fact that they have not gone through with the park kind of proves that Evo prioritizes skateboarding as part of an image--an extreme sport whose presence in their store is necessary to help them feel validated and sell more skis and patagonia vests at astronomical prices.
"I thought Inner Space was fantastic. I was pretty ticked when it closed and Evo opened with no park," a local skater told me.
What's even more disheartening is that the Inner Space indoor skatepark sign is still attached to the Evo building, leading consumers to a parking lot, not a skatepark.