Sports Arena for Porter County

[cornonthe]

OK...I'm going to get involved here...I didn't see anyone mention anything about what I'm going to say here. The group that I was involved with a few years ago were planning on building an arena complex at the corner of 49 and 2 in Valparaiso...at Eastport Center(I think that's the name of the development). We would have used the existing dome and build a bigger monolithic dome right next to it. It was very cost effective to build a dome facility and it would have also served as an official disaster shelter(for tornado safety). The site hinged on the property just to the west being available, which it wasn't at the time. We would have bought land and existing buildings just to the south east as well. We never got past our funding issues...we weren't going to ask for state, county, city or university money...totally privately funded. The seating that this group is talking about is the exact seating capacity that we were talking about. We did do market research and we found that people would drive that far south of the expressways to see sports and concerts. Here's the stuff that's interesting...we had someone in our group that was associated with someone in the NBA. There was definite interest in placing an NBA D-League team in NW Indiana. In addition to that, there was interest from a actual NBA team in making NW Indiana their NBA D-League home...probably the Pacers, but we were never sure. We were also contacted by an AHL team about relocating there from their current old arena. What I'm saying is that VU isn't the only choice when choosing an anchor tenant or two. As for VU playing there, they could for big games...or all of their games for that matter...the students could always be bussed in...I just hope that they go with our monolithic dome design...

I wanted to re-post this...I hope the interior sketches appear here. I wanted to point out that there could be other tenants besides VU...AHL or ECHL hockey, NBA D-League...perhaps Arena League 2(if it still exists). Also, we were talking about locating our plan at Eastport Center...very close to the VU campus. The thing we learned in our informal study on whether students would go off campus for a game is that if there was a way to get there easily and for free, they'd go.

[valpotx]

I'd be all for it if it is within 5 minutes of campus.  Since I haven't been back for a few years, where is Eastport Center?

[historyman]

I'd be all for it if it is within 5 minutes of campus.  Since I haven't been back for a few years, where is Eastport Center?

It's just east of Highway 49. If you turn right instead of left (as if you were going to the Cinemark Theater or JC Penney) off Indiana Highway 2. There are several sights off that street which are all within 5 minutes of campus.


To get to the dome building you turn right on Mariposa Dr just south of Highway 2 and follow it till it ends up at the dome. You can barely make out the dome in this Google Streetview from Eastport Centre Drive.


https://www.google.com/maps/place/Eastport+Centre+Dr/@41.465593,-87.018112,3a,75y,270h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sx85fU3sO9sD-eNr4oMOg_A!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x88119bb57b7fe64f:0x15cfe33a213b28a2


Here is a Google Map of the area
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Eastport+Centre+Dr/@41.4659996,-87.0180252,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x88119bb57b7fe64f:0x15cfe33a213b28a2

[Valpofan00]

What ever happened to this. 

[historyman]

This was in the Chesterton Tribune 4 months ago on 9/9/2014.


http://chestertontribune.com/Business/multimillion_dollar_sports_arena.htm

Multimillion dollar sports arena eyed for Chesterton

By JEFF SCHULTZ

The Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitors Commission has written a letter of support for the non-profit "Duneland Sports Authority" which is trying to secure grants to build a large sports arena, planned along the frontage of I-80 near the Ind. 49 bypass in Coffee Creek.

Paul Boardman, chairman and founder of DSA, presented conceptual drawings at a recent PCCRVC meeting for an arena with space for hockey with seating for 6,000, basketball with 7,000 seats, and center stage concerts with 8,000 seats, designed for family multi-use entertainment.

The arena will stand out from all others like it, Boardman said, because it will be first in the world built to meet LEED platinum certification, with green initiatives to generate its own power.

If the plan gets off the ground, Boardman said construction costs could be in the range of more than $86 million. Targeted completion date is fall of 2017.

Boardman, a LaPorte native and alumnus of Valparaiso University, said preliminary figures indicate the construction could bring an immediate 250 short-term jobs to the area, and provide as many as 1,500 sustainable jobs once the arena opens.

"Duneland arena is all about our children, inspiring them to grow their talents and providing local career opportunities," Boardman said.

The arena would be available for use by high school teams, youth leagues, college and professional teams, for practices and tournaments, Boardman said, and could host up to 120 professional and amateur sporting events per year, according to a feasibility study finished last year called "Game On!" paid for by DSA.

Over the last five years or so, there have been reports of several proposals by different groups hoping to build a large sports arena somewhere in Northwest Indiana. One group in particular Persistence LLC of Portage, announced plans in 2010 for a $40 million sports arena at the Toll Road entrance of Ind. 49, with the intention of holding regional and national tournaments, using pressurized domes. That project fell through as Persistence was not able to procure the necessary bonds in time.

Boardman, who said he is not affiliated with Persistence LLC, believes a non-profit entity like DSA can succeed where profit-making groups have failed, filtering money back into the community. The mission of DSA, he said, is to support youth sports with revenues above operating expenses. Porter County or the Town of Chesterton would be the terminal beneficiary, Boardman said.
Boardman said evidence shows a large demand for a venue for youth sports between Chicago and South Bend, the second most populous area in the state next to Indianapolis.

"At the time when I was inspired to begin this project and today, I believed then and believe now that a Northwest Indiana arena is inevitable. The question is: will it be ours or someone else's? Will it serve us, bringing resources into the community while providing excellent entertainment, or serve someone else who extracts from us and provides the least entertainment value?" Boardman said.

After nearly 200 meetings with interested parties in the community since January 2013, Boardman said a business model has taken shape that the arena would be family friendly, employ locally, source concessions locally, and be available for any local sporting event or tournament, concerts and other events, including trade shows.

He also wants to ensure the project is self-sustaining and can be built before competitors like a casino or similar industry decides to build an arena of this scope.

"I believe that this eventuality would be an enormous social and financial drain to the NW Indiana community," Boardman said.

"From our studies, it is clear that Northwest Indiana can support one arena of this size. Once that niche is taken, it is virtually impossible to justify building another arena of the 6k-10k capacity in NW Indiana to serve us."

Boardman said he would like to situate the DSA arena on 13 acres along I-80 near the medical buildings in Coffee Creek Center, but it could go elsewhere if the Town of Chesterton decides against that location. Boardman asserts Coffee Creek "has the right feel, allows great event flexibility for local, NCAA and professional sports, concerts and pep rallies for the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy."

Boardman said no local tax dollars will be used to build the arena. Much of the cost will be covered by a wide consortium of private capital partnerships and grants.

A grant from the state of Indiana could give the project the boost it needs, which is why Boardman is seeking letters of support to meet the requirements. Along with the County Tourism board, the City of Valparaiso and Valparaiso University have issued letters of support.

Lake Erie Land is currently in talks with Boardman about providing the space necessary for parking. DSA wants to include "green parking" to compliment the LEED structure of the arena and share the space with other developments to decrease its parking and traffic footprint.

Porter County Government has taken an interest in beefing up sports tourism. Last year the Board of Commissioners established a "sports cabinet" to work with the tourism bureau to boost the local economy by trying to make the county a destination for amateur sports.

PCCRVC Executive Director Lorelei Weimer said a feasibility study for the county sports center has been completed by the Minneapolis-based Conventions, Sports and Leisure International (CSL), but the Commissioners and stakeholders are discussing the findings before the information is released to the public.

Posted 9/9/2014

[vu84v2]

It is hard to quickly calculate how unrealistic and poor this plan is.

A non-profit with "a wide consortium of private capital partnerships and grants"?  How realistic is that that?

The City of Valparaiso and Valparaiso University sign a letter of support.  Restated, "sure, we'll support you building this at no cost to us and we will consider it as a venue for any events along with all other existing options".  No commitment and no real plan that any sane business person would support where revenues are realistically achieveable to at least come close to covering costs.

1,500 sustainable jobs?  I would love to see the math behind that.

"Duneland Arena is all about our children".  Give me a break.  This guy is just throwing out any cliche' in hopes that something will stick to gain interest.  Perhaps he is a good guy that is just tilting at windmills, but this is such a poor idea and plan that no one in their right mind would support it.

[a3uge]

Yeah, there's 0% chance this happens. This plan would require either a substantial TIF district (impossible given the population of Chesterton/Valpo), or a new sales tax from Porter County (also impossible). Arenas typically don't generate enough profits to justify the massive building cost. That's why there's virtually no arenas built without significant tax money. If arenas made an exorbitant amount of money, there would be private investors flocking to build arenas all over the country. This statement was particularly laughable: "He also wants to ensure the project is self-sustaining and can be built before competitors like a casino or similar industry decides to build an arena of this scope." Really?

[valpopal]

Valpo and the ARC get most mentions as the place to play in the Horizon League:


http://www.horizonleague.org/blog/feature-road-games