Starting in 1938, the area of building an arena was in the works. Michael (or Migiel or Miguel) J. Uline, president of Capitol Garden Corp., was considering it June of that year but was waiting on a decision by the local government on whether or not they were going to build an arena of their own at the intersection of 4th Street NW and Constitution Avenue NW. Michael Uline held 68 patents and was a successful businessman originally from the Netherlands. His parents decided to leave their home in the province of North Brabant due to numerous floodings in the area of the Maas river and the Uline family emigrated to the United States in 1890, when Michiel was 16 years old. His first business interests in the US revolved around the production and distribution of ice, and the site in Washington, in 1931, just south of the later Arena, was dedicated to ice manufacturing, storage, and sales.

By early 1940, the arena was under construction. It was however already being criticized. On March 14, 1940, Coach Bill Reinhart of the George Washington University basketball team was critical of the design: there were too many seats behind the backboards and not enough on the sidelines. On March 20, the architect, Joe Harry Lapish, responded to the criticism by stating that the arena would be able to house between 6,500 and 7,000 basketball spectators including 4,500 to 5,000 highly desirable seats on the sidelines.

On December 28, 1940, while the arena was nearing completion, Michael Uline announced that it would open on January 28, 1941 and would present a 15-performance engagement of "Ice-Capades of 1941" in 13 days which would end on February 9. More details of the interior where also shared. The heated arena would feature arm-rest seats, each with a complete and unhindered view of the ice by post supports and beams. The ice surface would be 225 feet (69 m) by 120 feet (37 m) and be the biggest in the country. It would be frozen using the Vedder system connected to the plant located next door which would provide the brine by-pass. Raoul Le Mat was General Manager. The following day, further details of the 1941 program was announced. A rodeo was planned and other activities were in the works: roller follies, a defense exposition, possibly a Cherry Blossom Festival, professional, collegiate and amateur hockey, boxing and college basketball were also considered. On January 9, 1941, the owner announced that the arena had been awarded the Indoor Speed Skating Championship by the National Amateur Ice Skating Union to take place on February 22 and 23, 1941. All the speed skating stars from the country would be present for the event including Leo Freisinger. It was also announced that Eddie Bean, a well-known local golfer would become the new Ticket Sale Director for the Uline Arena. He had previously handled the ticket sales of the Washington Baseball Club and of the Redskins for a decade.

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