Chevy Centre management presentations begin today

One presentation was moved to Thursday.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — City officials will hear a proposal today from a company wanting to manage the Chevrolet Centre.

Two other proposals will be presented Thursday to city officials in the center’s community room. The meetings are open to the public. Public comments aren’t permitted during the presentations.

City officials expect to select a management firm by March 30.

Officials with Global Spectrum were to discuss at 10 a.m. today what it can offer in terms of effectively running the city-owned center and ideas for increasing revenue for the financially struggling facility.

Global Spectrum manages 68 facilities including Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Of the proposals the city received Nov. 30 to manage the center, Global Spectrum’s was the only one that provided details on the amount of profit it would generate running the facility — between $241,000 and $297,000 a year.

The city pays $755,650 a year just to cover the interest of the $11.9 million it borrowed as its share of the $45 million center’s construction cost. City officials have hoped the profit from the center would cover the debt. The center hasn’t made a profit in its two-plus years of operating.

Global’s proposal includes a joint marketing partnership with Alan Levin, whose company owns the Mahoning Valley Scrappers minor league baseball team in Niles, and Bruce Zoldan, whose company owns the Mahoning Valley Phantoms minor league hockey team and the Ice Zone in Boardman.

The two had previously announced Herb Washington would be part of their group.

Zoldan said Washington is “undecided right now with what direction he wants to go” and may or may not join him and Levin. Wvashington couldn’t be reached Monday to comment.

Washington owns the Youngstown SteelHounds minor league hockey team, which plays its home games at the Chevrolet Centre.

Washington and Zoldan had recently announced that they would co-own a hockey team that would play its home games at the center beginning later this year. Zoldan said Monday that the co-ownership plan is “not a definite” anymore. The two are meeting, but Washington hasn’t given a firm commitment, Zoldan said.

SMG of Philadelphia was also supposed to give a presentation today, but asked for and received a postponement until 1 p.m. Thursday.

SMG manages 209 facilities including the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, and the Peterson Center and Mellon Arena, both in Pittsburgh.

Also giving a presentation Thursday, at 10 a.m., is a partnership between Cavaliers Operating Co. of Cleveland, which owns and operates the Cleveland Cavaliers professional basketball team and its home center, the Quicken Loans Arena; and International Facilities Group of Chicago, which developed and constructed 34 centers and stadiums.

skolnick@vindy.com