El Paso City Council delays Sunset Amphitheater contract pending study
EL PASO, TX (KVIA) -- El Paso City Council has postponed the agenda item concerning the sale of 17 acres in Northeast El Paso to Notes Live Inc. for the construction of the new Sunset Amphitheater. The decision was made to allow time for a parking and traffic study, which is meant to help both the city and Notes Live Inc. understand the project's boundaries and improvement costs.
Karina Brasgalla, Interim Director for the city's Economic and International Development Department, told ABC-7 the project is still on track and this delay will not change any numbers or the incentive package, “We want to make sure obviously that it meets the master plan objectives. What's unknown right now, we want to have numbers attached to that. So that it’s really clear, what's approved, what's expected and what we'll see on the ground in 2026 when it opens.”
The project was passed by the City Council in April. It involves a public-private partnership that is aimed to transform the former site of Cohen Stadium into the “Cohen Entertainment District.” The 12,500-seat amphitheater is expected to open by 2026 and generate an estimated $5.4 billion in economic impact over the next 20 years.
Brasgalla explained that the economic impact will be both direct and indirect. Direct impacts include sales taxes collected from purchases at the venue, which will benefit the city, county, school districts, and other taxing entities. Indirect impacts will come from visitors spending money on hotels, restaurants, and other local businesses, as well as from employment opportunities created by the amphitheater.
“One of the big goals of the Cohen Entertainment district was to make sure that we have kind of year round all day activities. So not just on a concert night. We don't want it to be completely dead. We want there to be a wide variety of kind of family and entertainment options that folks can go to,” said Brasgalla.
The city has committed nearly $31 million in incentives. Brasgalla says they project this to pay for itself, “We expect the city to recover the full value of our incentives within 20 years and the cost of the land within seven years. There should be a net benefit not just in terms of providing a new entertainment option and revitalizing Cohen, but also in terms of revenue that allows us to fund other services."
The project is expected to create multiple revenue streams for the city and provide a 28.8% return of investment, helping offset the burden on residential tax payers.
City Council is expected to revisit the item and potentially move forward with the contract on July 2.
