Bangor to hear updated arena location ideas

BANGOR – The latest recommendations regarding where the city should build a new arena to replace the aging auditorium will be the subject of two meetings this week.

The first is a City Council workshop set for 5 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers at City Hall.

The second, aimed at the broader community, will take place at noon Thursday, also in council chambers.

Both meetings will feature David Greusel of HOK Sport + Venue + Event, the Kansas City, Mo., firm tapped five years ago to develop preliminary designs for the arena and evaluate possible locations.

At that time, nine locations were identified as viable candidates for the new complex. The locations included Bass Park, Bangor Waterfront and downtown. The general preference then was for a downtown site.

Much has changed since the original study was done. Sites once considered viable no longer are available, and some space earlier thought to be off-limits has opened up.

In addition, the city now has a funding source for the arena.

The plan is to use revenue from the Hollywood Slots at Bangor, the gaming facility which opened with 475 slot machines in an interim facility in late 2005, to pay for the arena’s construction costs, estimated five years ago at $40 million to $50 million.

So far, the city has received about $3 million in proceeds from Hollywood Slots. A portion of the slots revenue, however, has been used to recoup legal, lobbying and land acquisition costs related to the gaming business, in accordance with the City Council’s policy.

Bangor expects to receive more revenue from the company after its $131 million permanent gaming and hotel facility, now being built on Main Street across from Bass Park, opens next summer with 1,000 slots.

Given such changes, HOK was hired earlier this year to update the study to reflect changes in Bangor that could have a bearing on where the new facility is built.

As part of the update, Greusel was in Bangor in September to meet with city officials. Others interested in the project also were asked for their views.

During the September sessions, Greusel asked meeting participants to weigh in on three core issues:

. Does the auditorium need to be replaced?

. Should the new facility be designed to improve the region’s quality of life by concentrating on such activities as concerts and sports events or should it focus on economic development activities such as meetings and conferences? Or should it be designed to accommodate both?

. Where should it be built?

A copy of the draft report Greusel will present in his follow-up sessions this week was not available Monday, City Manager Edward Barrett said.

As it stood after the September sessions, the majority of those who weighed in were leaning toward building the arena at Bass Park, home of the aging Bangor Auditorium, the 1950s venue that the new arena would replace.

The fact that Bass Park had more space for parking and was less subject to congestion than downtown were among the key reasons city officials and others supported that option.

Also figuring into Bass Park’s favor was that the new state courthouse is being built on one of the two downtown sites contemplated and the other downtown site belongs to multiple private owners.

City officials have not yet determined the fate of the Bangor Civic Center, which is two decades newer.

As of last fall, the city was looking to begin designing the arena by about 2010, or “as soon as we can in a fiscally responsible manner,” as Barrett put it.

The city wants to have a year or two years’ worth of financial data from the permanent slots facility before starting design work on the arena.

Less clear after this fall’s meetings were what kinds of activities the new facility should be designed to accommodate.

Participants were all over the map with regard to the facility’s purpose, with some preferring a facility designed for concerts and sports events, some leaning toward a site for conferences and conventions, and still others wanting a facility to accommodate both.