City to reveal ‘major milestone’ regarding Downtown arena

The City of El Paso has called a news conference this morning at City Hall to discuss what is being called “a major milestone” in the plan to build the voter-approved $180 million dollar Multipurpose Cultural and Performing Arts Facility.

Back in August, City Council awarded a contract for $4.8 million to International Facilities Group to help with site selection and gathering bids for the arena’s operator.

The arena was part of a the $473 million quality of life bond that passed with voter approval in 2012.

In November of last year, City Council indicated it wanted greater control over design of the new Downtown arena. Council approved a “construction manager at risk” method, which means the Council will have input during the design process and not have to bid on a design process that is already completed. It is the same policy used to build $75 million Southwest University Park.

Documents from the City prior to the quality of life bond vote in 2012 showed plans for an arena with 15,000 to 18,000 seats. However a later master plan showed the arena with 12,700 seats. The Don Haskins Center, built specifically for basketball, has about 12,000 seats.

“This is a very complex and unique project,” City Manager Tommy Gonzalez said last year. “It’s going to be a once in a generation kind of project for this community.”

The arena is expected to host sporting events, concerts and other entertainment.

According to City officials, the modern, mutli-purpose arena will be designed to accommodate a wide range of events with first class amenities such as open concourses, club level seating and the technical infrastructure needed to draw top-level entertainment.

The projected opening date is late 2019 or early 2020.