City on downtown arena: ‘We’re Building It’

A bold proclamation by city officials: “The City of El Paso is building the Multipurpose Performing Arts and Entertainment Center.”

Solicitations to build the project will expire next month, so in an effort to avoid further delays, El Paso Mayor Dee Margo said the City is reissuing the solicitations, a process expected to last about 3 to 4 months. The solicitation will allow the City “to be able to proceed with the design and construction at the conclusion of the litigation,” Mayor Dee Margo said.

Capital Improvement Department Director Sam Rodriguez said the City has reviewed the open solicitations for program/operator and for architecture and engineering services. “Those solicitations are outdated, and for the integrity of the process, we plan to follow procurement best practices and re-issue them after they expire,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez told ABC-7 in an interview the solicitation for program/operator was originally released in 2015 and the solicitation for architecture and engineering services was released in October of 2016.

“When you look at when they were originally issued and when they were submitted, the owner/operator is two years old. From a best management perspective, you don’t want the solicitations to be that old,” Rodriguez said, adding there are two reasons for reissuing solicitations.

“There’s a good possibility that some of the personnel within those companies may no longer be with the company or they may not be available if they are still with the company,” Rodriguez said.

The second reason falls on the City’s end. “There’s also some changes related to the wording related to what has gone on with litigation as it relates to sports. When we look at the solicitations, we just have to make sure we go through the solicitations and that we are (honoring) the intent as to what the court rulings have given us,” Rodriguez said.

The City is going to let the bids expire in February and will contact the parties who participated in the solicitation process to explain the delay and affirm its commitment to proceed with the project. “The City is grateful to the parties who have patiently held open their solicitations and hope they will continue with the process as we move forward,” the City said in a news release.

Rodriguez told ABC-7 the City Plan Commission wants to close any loopholes before reissuing solicitations. “When they say, ‘yeah we are clear to go, lets go ahead and procure the contracts,’ we will have them ready to go and there is no hold up at that point,” Rodriguez said.

Historian Max Grossman, involved in litigation against the City, is opposed to the building of the arena in the Duranguito neighborhood.

Tuesday, Grossman emailed ABC-7 the following statement: “Today, in yet another bizarre press release, our City leaders declare ‘We’re building it,’ as if the matter of the ‘arena’ were going to be resolved in the courts in a matter of weeks. One imagines City Council gathered around a Ouija Board during executive session, hoping that the phrase ‘basketball arena’ will spell itself by magic.”