El Paso City Council sets more money to ID another Downtown site for multipurpose arena
The El Paso City Council has not given up on the proposed, long-delayed, voter-approved multipurpose arts and entertainment facility in Downtown El Paso.
The council voted 6-1 at its March 13 work session to pay Gensler, a San Francisco architectural and planning firm, to do another Downtown site assessment for the proposed project and be paid up to $25,000.
Council took the vote under a nondescript Downtown property item listed on the closed, executive session of its March 13 work session.
Council voted 4-3 on Jan. 3 to abandon the controversial Duranguito neighborhood site within Downtown’s Union Plaza District for the project and examine using the millions of dollars from a voter-approved bond issue for "existing city facilities that may be renovated or upgraded to honor the will of the voters,” according to the council-approved motion.
Council and city staff have been discussing other potential Downtown sites for the project since it rejected the Duranguito site, said city Reps. Alexsandra Annello and Cassandra Hernandez.
The city already has paid Gensler $767,091, including $11,403 in expenses, for the draft feasibility study of the Duranguito site, city spokeswoman Laura Cruz-Acosta said. The study was 85% completed when council canceled the Duranguito site, she said. The city’s original contract with Gensler was for $798,661, she said.
Annello said Gensler kept trying to put the facility it designed for Duranguito into other potential locations, “and that wasn’t working."
“My ask was can they design another building for another location,” Annello said. “We were told that they could do another site for that amount of money ($20,000-$25,000).”
Gensler will recommend one site, Annello said.
Annello was one of the four council members who voted to scrap the Duranguito site.
Hernandez, who supported the Duranguito site, said she voted against paying Gensler additional money for another study.
Previous studies already have identified the best sites for the project, Hernandez said.
“The sites are not going to change. It’s a decision that needs to be made and we should make one soon because of the rising (construction) costs," she said.
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Annello said identifying another site is needed to allow council to have a discussion on whether it should go forward with the multipurpose project.
"I think it's going to take a lot of community input before we move forward with a final plan, and that has yet to happen," she said.
Hernandez said Gensler's Duranguito feasibility study was “a great compromise” because it would have saved existing buildings and not displaced residents. And “that’s exactly what the concern was from the public,” she said.
Gensler’s draft report proposed three alternatives: A $386 million, 12,000-seat arena; a $113 million hybrid venue with 4,000 indoor and 4,000 outdoor seats; and a $183 million hybrid venue with 6,500 indoor seats and 1,500 outdoor seats.
Each alternative also had an additional $30 million in estimated renovation costs for historic structures in the area. Gensler proposed that 12 existing structures, including seven with historic designations, be incorporated into the Duranguito-sited project.
The city has $163 million remaining from the initial bond money for the project, the City Council was told Jan. 3. The bond was approved by voters in 2012 and previously was focused on constructing an arena with about 13,000 to 15,000 seats. A legal fight kept the project on hold for years.
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso City Council allots money to identify new Downtown arena site
