Convention center study eyes Bangor $11 million plan praised

BANGOR – A committee studying the fate of the city’s aging civic center and auditorium is looking closely at a recent study that shows the state could benefit from a network of convention centers, including a new $11 million facility in Bangor.

Conducted for the Portland-based Maine Meetings and Convention Coalition by the Minneapolis-based company, Convention Sports & Leisure International, the study finds that a $71.7 million investment – $57 million in public funds – for new or improved convention centers in six areas of the state could bring an estimated $19.7 million into the state economy each year.

In Bangor, the $11 million investment – $10 million in public funds and $1 million in private funds – would result in a $3.7 million annual impact for the region, according to the March study.

Those numbers sounded pretty good to City Councilor Michael Crowley, a co-chairman of the Special Committee on the Future of the Bangor Auditorium.

“If we’re going to be a player in attracting new outside dollars, new investments are important,” Crowley said. “Whether we base the justification on a statewide study or not, the facility we have today is grossly inadequate for our own uses.”

The special committee, comprising about a dozen representatives from the region, was formed earlier this year to take a look at the future of the Bass Park complex, which includes the 47-year-old Bangor Auditorium and the 23-year-old Bangor Civic Center.

The City Council has vowed to close the complex by Dec. 31, 2004, unless adequate progress is made by 2002 to build new facilities, estimated to cost $30 million.

The study also comes in the midst of recent efforts to redevelop the city’s once-industrial waterfront, plans for which call for a high-tech conference center tied to a high-end hotel.

The report’s findings came as welcome but not unexpected news to Donna Fichtner, executive director of the Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau. Fichtner said she has turned away many large groups in past years interested in coming to Bangor to hold their regional meetings.

“Unfortunately it happens more often than we’d like to admit,” said Fichtner, adding that scheduling limitations and a lack of break-out meeting spaces have kept larger groups from using the Bass Park complex. “No matter how hard we try, we do run up against some roadblocks.”

The study, to which the Bangor City Council contributed $15,000, suggests that the Bangor market area could support a 30,000-square-foot conference center tied to a privately funded hotel project.

This week, the council approved an additional $5,000 for further study to gain more detailed economic impact figures.

The report, funded in part by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, also takes a look at the need for convention centers in Portland, Lewiston, Aroostook County, Augusta and the state’s mountain and coastal areas.

While the proposed $30 million Portland convention center is the grandest in scale, the study finds the remote Aroostook County region could support a $2 million enhancement of local visitor centers.

The report has not gone unnoticed by the Legislature’s Business and Economic Development Committee, which formed a subcommittee to study the issue over the summer.

Steven Levesque, DECD director, said he believed the study pointed out some valuable opportunities for local communities looking to bring in out-of-state groups.

“Clearly the interesting thing is that there’s a substantial market that we’re not capturing,” Levesque said. “That’s pretty telling in terms of lost opportunities.”

While the report does not address the number of Maine-based companies or organizations that would use the facilities, only 8 percent of national and regional associations said they would consider coming to Maine to hold their primary annual convention. Twenty-one percent said they would consider a Maine conference center for a secondary event.

Of 685 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic corporations surveyed, the numbers were similar with 26 percent saying they would consider holding an event in Maine and only 3 percent saying they definitely would do so.

While those initial numbers may not be as high as city and state officials would like, investments in facilities that can handle larger groups have proven wise, state officials said.

“History has shown us that they pay off,” Levesque said.

But coming up with $71 million will be a challenge, all agree.

The study suggests several possible public funding mechanisms, ranging from increases in the sales tax at the state level to the creation of additional local taxes other than the property tax.

Businessman Jack Quirk Jr., who also chairs the Special Committee on the Future of the Bangor Auditorium, said that while state funding would be needed, the private sector also must step up and make an investment.

“There’s a lot of cities out there taking advantage of this kind of opportunity,” Quirk said. “We’ve been talking the talk and it’s time we started walking the walk.”