El Paso officials moving forward with development of downtown arena project

City of El Paso officials are still moving forward with the work to get the downtown arena site ready to go, even while residents and historical preservation advocates seek to oppose them.

“Right now, we have contacted all the property owners,” said Jose Carlos Villalva, the city’s real estate manager, “and we’re moving forward with getting the appraisals and doing the phase one assessments on all the properties.”

Villalva and Interim Economic Development Director Jessica Herrera came on Good Morning El Paso Weekend Saturday morning and talked about the progress in the city’s efforts to get a downtown arena going, with independent appraisers that will consider what the fair value is for residents giving up where they live for the project.

“The appraisal will be based on best and highest use of each property, and as such will arrive at the fair market value,” Villalva said. “Now this is done by a third party, so it’s up to them. The city has no input on what the best and highest use of each property is.”

There have been some notable objections by concerned residents about where the arena will be located and what will have to be demolished to make way. While those efforts continue, the city is still moving forward with planning on what the economic impact could be.

“You tie it into everything that is happening within that area, you have a streetcar that within 2 years, 2018, will be operational,” Herrera said. “And what we want to do is integrate that area with retail, opportunities for housing, for hotel, and for the lot of the other areas that you see that happen to make downtown a great place to live, to work, to play.”

The next update will be before city council on Tuesday.