City narrowing site search for Downtown arena, museum, cultural center
The city of El Paso is considering when and where to build those big game-changing projects from the quality of life bond.
The signature projects are the $180 million arena, $19 million Children’s museum and the $5.7 million hispanic cultural center.
City Manager Tommy Gonzalez on Tuesday said the City will not publicly disclose which specific sites its considering. He fears the price of that land would magically increase when people find out the City is eyeing it.
“I just don’t think it’s a good business decision to say these are all the sites we’re looking at and have them go exponentially higher. We have a responsibility to protect the citizens dollars,” he said in an interview after Tuesday’s special meeting.
City officials are considering four areas in downtown el paso to build these facilities: the civic center district, the museum area, the San Jacinto Plaza area or the golden horseshoe shopping district.
Gonzalez said the estimated cost of the hispanic cultural center and the Children’s museum is not enough to build state of the art facilities.
“We’re going to deliver on what the public has requested. And whether that’s GO bonds or certificates of obligation, we will find the dollars to make those happen the way the public requested that they happen. If something was not accounted for in terms of looking at the true cost of something, however that took place, that’s another question.”
In an unexpected move, the El Paso Community Foundation on Tuesday vowed to raise $10 million for the Children’s Museum.
“If city council agrees to move forward with the projects now, the el paso community foundation along with the community group would like to augment the childrens museum with significant financial resources for the design of a stand alone museum and then it’s exhibition with a goal to raise $10 million,” businessman Miguel Fernandez told Council.
The clock is ticking: the longer the city waits to build – the more it’ll cost.
For example, if the city builds the arena in 2016, it’ll cost $14,000 a seat. If the City builds it in 2024, it’ll cost them $20,000 a seat. City Representatives indicated they wanted to build the projects sooner than later, though no date has been set.
The City Council Tuesday directed city employees to look into how much it could cost the city to acquire some of the identified properties for the projects and to narrow the search.
