Future of El Paso’s convention center in question after City Council vote

The decision by El Paso City Council representatives to study alternate sites for the Downtown arena, including the Downtown Convention Center complex, has left more questions than answers. Especially for people who have financial and other interests in downtown.

Roberto Espinoza owns the Pot Au Feu restaurant. His business is already being affected by the trolley construction.

“They shut down a major artery downtown and everyone feels it. So, you know, if they were to shut down the convention center, it would have a pretty big impact,” Espinoza said.

Joe Gudenrath with the Downtown Management District was in favor of moving forward with the original Duranguito site. He is concerned how the potential convention site for the arena could impact businesses and downtown revitilization.

“So many unknowns. It is troubling. How would this impact the economy? Right now the downtown economy relies heavily on the convention center traffic,” Gudenrath said.

And what about the convention center itself? Destination El Paso general manager Bryan Crowe has a lot of questions.

“Will the building remain operational. What would the footprint be, are we talking about two different facilities on this campus or one facility that is going to serve two purposes? What are the benefits, and what the positive negatives of such a design?,” Crowe said.

The convention center hosted 121 different events this year including a Jehovah Witness convention with some 5,000 attendees.

“On average, a convention delegate generates about $278 per day that stay in El Paso and add direct gross economic impact to our community,” Crowe said.

Crowe said some of the larger sporting events and conventions really won’t fit anywhere else but the downtown convention center. But others may be able to be relocated.

“There are certainly some events that take place at the convention center that could possibly be relocated to other indoor facilities like hotels or hotel ballrooms and smaller meeting facilities throughout the El Paso area,” Crowe said.

A potential loss in downtown customers that for Espinoza adds up to a lot.

“That’s about 75 percent of our business,” Espinoza said.

City Rep. Cortney Niland said city staff will look at the feasibility of the convention center site for the downtown arena. She wants to have a study on that available by early January of next year so city Council can make an informed decision.

“I would hope so,” Niland said of finding out more in January. “And then basically be able to come back to us and say ‘Alright, just a rough sketch, rough pencil to the paper. Here’s what we see. Do you guys want to continue in this direction? Do you want to talk about it publicly? What do you want to do?’ And then help us, guide us to make the decision.”

Niland said that moving quickly was important since significant delays could lead to greater cost for the project like interest rates and construction costs. That’s why Council moved up the arena project in the overall 10-year timeline of projects in the 2012 bond according to Niland.