2009

If we build it, they will come (with their Coleman stoves)

l3wis June 29, 2009 4Comments

Sy read the Gargoyle Leader’s sports section on Sunday and sent me this comment about the event Center;

“There is a small but vocal faction that still wants to see an events center built downtown, but their prospects are bleak. In addition to logistical issues – facility space, parking, traffic flow – the downtown concept is seen as a deal-breaker because it’s enormously unpopular among the general public. – Stu Whitney

You know what else is enormously unpopular with the general public, Stu Whiney and his constant stream of negative piss he calls sports journalism.   When has the general public weighed in on the issue of Event Center location?   The size a paid consultant is recommending would easily fit at that Cherapa site and there’s more access points in and out than there would be at the Arena site.   Parking?  Again, we’ve paid people to look at this and they have said there is plenty of existing parking within reasonable walking distance, and that wouldn’t include any more added by replacing the River ramp or what comes in next to the facility itself.   

 

Another enormously unpopular idea is moving Howard Wood field and adding an additional $10 million or so to rebuild it out on basically useless ground tucked in between the Airport and the Benson Road exit.   The School Board wants to spend $5 million to renovate it, so that option was obviously not their first choice.   

 

We could build the 12K seat Events Center downtown for $100 million, match the School Board’s $5 million and upgrade Howard Wood.  Put $15 million apiece into additional parking at or around the downtown site, and into renovating the Convention Center to incorporate the Arena and add sellable floor space.   Total price tag = $135 million which is $15 mil less than the new budget number.    You’d end up with 3 first class facilities, with two sets of naming rights to sell, that would suit the City’s needs for the next 50 years. The projects could be staggered in a way that you are using one while you are constructing the others so you would minimize lost Event revenue.   Plus, this is the only plan that would draw in another 400 or so new hotel rooms which will help solve that problem at the same time. 

 

Again, the best plan is the one that will offer the best payback on the investment.   All the others floating around right now will short change us for a generation.