(Photo, Guest Poster)
I will commend Sanford for one thing, constructing a sports facility without spending millions of taxpayer dollars.
By l3wis
22 thoughts on “Is Sanford building a sports complex or a machine shed?”
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Took a cruise around Sanford’s Pentagon. Huge place, so far not too attractive, looks like room for a swimming pool, a race track, polo field , perhaps a river walk and of course lots of parking.
I thought they were getting tif money for this.
By definition a machine shed is where you store all your gear that makes you your money.
The entire complex is under a TIF yes. We can get into semantics about whether that constitutes using tax dollars. Obviously tax that would have been paid never will be, or, to be more accurate will be essentially rebated back to them. Also, although this particular building does not have any city subsidy (besides the TIF I guess), we can’t forget the upcoming ice and tennis facilities will, in the case of hockey with 1.5 million in equipment/items, and for tennis 500,000 of improvements – namely trees, landscaping, etc. So I guess if the deal ever goes bad we can always go dig up the trees and parking lot 🙂
Just got an email from Stan Adelstein, he is asking for Jason’s resignation again. This time he is accusing Jason of breaking state law when it comes to SOS definitions of ballot questions. He is supposed to list ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ he is also accusing Jason of misaappropriation of funds when it came to hiring Roust as a consultant.
I wonder if Sanford also bought the naming rights to the State Theatre, I guess we find out tommorrow. The asking price was a cool million.
I think the Chuck Luden State Theatre sounds pretty damn snappy!
I am hoping it is an individual or family donation for once. I berated about 4 sources today, they all kept saying they did not know, but said ‘Sanford was a possibility’ Oh, puke.
I don’t care if it’s the Leslie Unruh State Theatre, as long as they have a Three Stooges Festival and show Herbie the Love Bug movies.
If I had a million bucks to blow, I’d tell them I want to name if after the SFPD.
It would then be known as the “Police State Theatre”.
Funny that we’re discussing the State Theatre and the new Sanford sports facility. These two make perfectly clear the architectural decline in this country (and the underlying cultural decline).
One hundred years ago, entertainment ‘facilities’ like theaters and arenas were built in the heart of vibrant cities and imbued with conscious artistry that made them civic landmarks that have stood the test of time (or would have, if many of them hadn’t been destroyed in the urban renewals of the 60s and 70s).
Today, our entertainment facilities are ‘facilities’ in the truest sense of the word: built in outlying industrial areas, devoid of any adornments beyond the utilitarian, surrounded by barren seas of parking lots. In an age when citizens have been reduced to mere consumers, I suppose we really shouldn’t expect any less (or more) from our built environment.
Tom – How true it is.
Doesn’t a giant life sized bust of T Denny Sanford housed in a concrete box located in an industrial park count as art? But seriously, good comment Tom.
Tom,
I’m sure the luxury boxes at the events center will be anything but utilitarian. The sections where us peons can sit will probably be wood planks.
Scott,
Don’t forget the “Private Club” that is an official part of the design of the Denny Sanford Premier Center!!
CR – even if we are so lucky to be invited to the “PC” I would hope they would supply barf bags. I’m just saying.
I see Sylvia Henkin gave $500K to the State Theatre for lobby naming rights. Nice to see something in this town not named after Subprime Denny.
I hope they cut right to the chase and get Steve Buscemi for the ribbon cutting ceremony. Go big and make it big! Bigger than South Dakota!
It would be a nice change of pace from the lame-o’s like Mary Hart and Pat O’Brien or modern douchebags like Nick Simon or that guy who was on the Survivor show a few years ago.
I think for the ribbon cutting they should have Michael Moore and play an uncut version of ‘Bowling for Columbine’.
While my political views are somewhat in tune with Moore, I generally find him to be an overrated, self-important windbag.
However, there is NOTHING more I love than people who get in to the craw of what I call “middle america”–the God, church, and family kind of people. I don’t care if it’s Marilyn Manson, Michael Moore, The Fifty Shades of Gray auhor, any rap star, etc etc. Anyone that is remotely “unsafe” who stirs the pot gets points in my book as a bare minimum.
Beer Jew — as someone who is a Christian (and thus I guess falls under the ‘God and church’ label), it’s an utter shame that being a ‘God and church’ person is considered ‘safe’. It really upsets me how the ‘God and church’ crowd can have such a case of cognitive dissonance between their avowed beliefs and how they use them to justify their politics and socioeconomics.
There’s a saying I like that goes something like this: ‘We don’t make dentists use the Bible as an instruction manual for dentistry; why do we make politicians use it as an instruction manual for politics?’ Conservatism is not more Christ-like than liberalism (or vice versa); capitalism is not more Christ-like than socialism. Morality is not ethics is not economics is not politics, and it shames me how so many of my fellow brothers and sisters put so many words into Jesus’ mouth.
/rant
A little late to the conversation, but I wanted to write this somewhere, and this is the only place I have seen any negative comments whatsoever about the Sports Complex design.
(realizing the previous comments were made before the the pentagon was built). Now that I have attended a YMCA youth basketball event there I think that the parking situation sucks.
All of the parking is on the backside of the building and they force you to walk all the way around the building to enter at the front entrance. Seriously, the side doors are one-way only.
This is South Dakota. It’s cold outside in the winter. I mean, there isn’t even a drop-off area near the front door! What about the handicapped or elderly?
Heritage Court is really cool, and the experience once you get in is awesome. I’m just pissed they didn’t consider the experience from car to front door. Poor planning (surprisingly, given the blank slate they had to work with)