YOUNGSTOWN Mayor talks about arena
If a private developer does not come forward, the city should scale back the project, the mayor said.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
and ROGER SMITH
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
YOUNGSTOWN -- No downtown arena site should be picked until private developers willing to invest in the project weigh in on where the building should go, Mayor George M. McKelvey says.
Also, the project should be scaled back if the private sector doesn't make up the funding gap between the $26.8 million in hand and the expected $40 million-plus price to build the facility.
The mayor shared his thoughts about the arena in a meeting Tuesday with Vindicator writers.
Key factor: The telltale sign of whether the project makes sense is whether developers are willing to fill the funding gap, he said.
If they don't, the $26.8 million should be used to build something positive, such as a scaled-down center that could hold large gatherings and maybe some government offices, he said. Such a use would fit the money's intent, he said.
"If no offers come forward, you build a convocation center in downtown Youngstown, a government center," McKelvey said. "There's nothing in the parameters that says you can't build government offices. There are unlimited possibilities."
City council has reserved the right to pick the site in consultation with others, such as the arena board.
Any group of arena architects, builders and managers isn't going to be told where to invest its millions of dollars, the mayor said.
"It makes perfect sense to me that someone who will come in here and invest $17 million to $20 million of their own money wouldn't want to let the mayor and city council determine where the site is built.
Ante up: "But no member of the private sector has a stake in this project until they put money on the table. If nobody comes forward, we better come up with alternative uses for a convocation center."
Requests for qualifications and proposals should be sent out seeking such consortiums, McKelvey said, which the arena board has started talking about.
It should be up to the arena board to decide which private company will run the facility, he said.
McKelvey would be satisfied with the city's getting 50 cents for every ticket sold as long as a private company is running the arena in the proper way.
"We're looking to make this a magnet or a catalyst to downtown development," he said. "Let a private company invest money, select the site and run it. Then let them control the parking, the luxury suites, everything."
U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. of Poland, D-17th, secured the money for an arena, so that's what it should be used for, he said.
"I don't know if an arena board is the best use of $26.8 million, but I'm going to use it for that. I will move forward with the goal of developing a successful civic center. That was the congressman's goal." McKelvey said.