Profit at Chevy Centre up 4.8%

Youngstown plans a hotel,
hiking trail or other
options near the arena.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGS-TOWN — Under interim management and with fewer Youngstown SteelHounds hockey team home games, the Chevrolet Centre managed to increase its profit by 4.8 percent between October and December 2007 compared to the same time frame a year earlier.

City officials released financial information for the 2007-2008 fiscal year’s first quarter on Thursday.

The center’s profit of $151,203 is $6,881 more than the facility made between October and December 2006.

During the center’s first two fiscal years, October to December was its most profitable quarter. The center ended both years with deficits, including a $254,388 loss for 2006-2007.

Deputy Finance Director Kyle Miasek, the city’s point man on the center, said he’s optimistic the facility will do well in the second quarter, this month through March.

“I’m very comfortable the building is moving in the right direction,” he said.

The center’s profit would have been greater between October and December if the SteelHounds, the facility’s main tenant, played more minor league hockey games there in the first quarter, Miasek said.

The reason the SteelHounds played seven home games in those three months compared to 14 during the last three months of 2006 was to accommodate the team’s travel schedule, he said.

The other teams in the Central Hockey League are far from Youngstown. To keep the team’s costs down and so the SteelHounds don’t have to compete with high school football, the CHL agreed to have the team play most of its early season games on the road. Most of its home games are during the final months of the regular season, which ends March 22.

Those seven games not played in the fiscal year’s first quarter will be played instead in the second quarter, Miasek said.

Miasek, at Thursday’s city council finance committee meeting, didn’t give an estimate as to the amount of profit the center would receive from the hockey games .

The city ended a two-year management agreement for the center Oct. 31, 2007, with Global Entertainment Corp. of Phoenix. The city hired JAC Management Group of Struthers to serve as the center’s interim manager while it searches for a permanent replacement.

Without Global, the center’s executive and marketing expenses declined by $15,319 in the current first quarter compared to the previous year’s first quarter.

As Global’s contract wound down, the company didn’t book events for the center, city Finance Director David Bozanich said.

“The last nine to 10 months have been kind of rocky with us trying to terminate Global,” he said. “Once they figured out they were going to be terminated they stopped booking dates.”

As a way to get rid of Global, the city developed a process to replace parking and facility fees with a 9.5-percent admission tax, Bozanich said. The fees were typically between $3 and $3.50 on most event tickets with the proceeds going to the center, and quite often a piece to the promoters of events. The admission tax is only now going into effect on most tickets because the center had agreements with promoters to charge the fees months in advance of the change.

But the city plans to give consideration to a mixture of the fees and the tax while it selects a permanent replacement to manage the center, Bozanich said.

A portion of the parking fee and the admission tax goes toward a $220,000-a-year contract the city has with USA Parking Systems to provide up to 2,400 parking spaces at decks and lots throughout downtown.

Only 5,383 spaces were used at the lots and decks during 17 events in December, or an average of 317 spots for each event, according to statistics released Thursday by the city.

With a new management firm expected to be hired by late March, Bozanich said he plans to ask city council to extend its deal with USA Parking for another six months. That would allow the new management firm to determine what should be done with parking.

Councilman Jamael Tito Brown, D-3rd, asked Bozanich if vacant city-owned property adjacent to the center could be used for additional on-site parking. The center currently has only 200 parking spots on-site, something done purposely to increase more walking traffic to help downtown restaurants and bars, Bozanich said.

The city has big plans for the property near the center, including a possible outdoor venue, a hotel or a hike and bike trail, Bozanich said.

The city’s been approached by “second- and third-tier” hotel companies, Bozanich said, wanting to build near the center. But the city isn’t interested in a “low-rent product,” he said.

Although the city’s finance department had the quarterly financial statement since Friday, city officials refused to release the one-page document to the public until it was presented Thursday to the finance committee.

skolnick@vindy.com