Facility located near South Ave.

The mayor expects changes to make the building distinctive to the city.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The site plan for the proposed downtown arena is markedly different from past proposals.
Plans revealed Wednesday show the $32 million, 5,500-seat arena near Front Street and South Avenue instead of near Market and Front streets.
The newest site plan makes sense for a few reasons, Mayor George M. McKelvey said.
First, the Front Street-South Avenue section of the 26-acre parcel, between the Market Street and South Avenue bridges, is at a higher elevation.
The building will be most visible there from Front and Market streets, South Avenue and Interstate 680, McKelvey said. A building at Market and Front would sit lower and hardly be visible from the Market Street bridge, he added.
Councilman Rufus Hudson, D-2nd, was glad to hear the building will be in a prominent spot. Placement of the building for maximum exposure was a main concern, he said.
Second, the location expedites the project, McKelvey said.
Greater visibility
The city wouldn't need to use eminent domain -- the government's right to take private property for public use -- to buy buildings on Front Street near Market to open the site to the downtown, he said.
"It's fully visible without any additional land acquisition," McKelvey said. "That strengthens the viability."
A couple of attractive office buildings could remain on Front Street near Market, he said. The city explored using eminent domain to acquire them in case they were needed. The city never wanted to force any property sales, he said.
Later, the developer could buy the building that sits right at Market and Front and use the spot as a gateway to the arena property, McKelvey said.
There are no significant barriers between Front Street and where the arena would sit, he said, leaving the building exposed to the street.
"It's still open to the downtown," he said of the latest placement.
Only an old gas station occupies a space in front of where the arena would go. The property owner is interested in selling the parcel without eminent domain, the mayor added.
Possible office space
There is one other building nearby, right at Front and South. The developer, Global Entertainment of Phoenix, is interested in buying the building and using the space as administrative offices for the arena, McKelvey said. That building owner also is interested in selling without eminent domain, he said.
Plans show about 350 parking spots on site, including 14 handicap spaces. The idea is to have the vast majority of drivers who attend arena events park elsewhere downtown. Foot traffic flowing through downtown is expected to create spinoff development such as restaurants.
The building is closer to a large sewer line bisecting the site than it was before, but the pipe remains a nonfactor, McKelvey said. Some of the property also is in a flood plain, but the building remains hundreds of feet from the highest point water reached during historic rains this summer, he said.
Arena drawings for now are simply replicas of the recently opened Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas, which is the model for the Youngstown project.
As the project becomes finalized, McKelvey said he expects exterior changes will be made to make the building distinctive to the city.
Regardless, the arena will be one of a kind for the area, he said.
The city and Global have exchanged discussion drafts of the contracts needed to complete the deal in the week since city council arrived at a consensus to build the arena.
Council approved a resolution Wednesday affirming that consensus.
The two sides will start talking about financial numbers and the $25 million federal grant the city has to spend on the project next week, McKelvey said.
He expects contracts to be signed by month's end and a ceremonial groundbreaking in March. Completion would be in September or October 2005, the exact deadline the city has to spend the grant.
An item in a federal budget bill is pending that would give the city two more years, until fall 2007. Despite the project's being on a fast track, it's better to have the time than not, McKelvey said.