Spokane/ CDA development discussions

[oilcan]

Amazing.. was just asking about this the other day:

From the Spokesman Review:


Park Board approves plan for science center downtown
Mike Prager
Staff writer
May 11, 2006

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The Spokane Park Board today unanimously approved a business and fund-raising plan for a proposed science center on the north side of Riverfront Park, but set new timelines and other performance requirements to ensure the project moves ahead as proposed.

Leaders of the non-profit Mobius civic organization want to build a 45,000-square-foot science center, a new 7,825-square-foot IMAX theater and a 348-car parking garage at an estimated cost of $33 million.

The Park Board is requiring Mobius to raise $4 million in the next year, another $10 million by May 2008 and another $12 million by May 2009, at which point construction could begin. The remaining 20 percent of the money would have to be raised by May 2010. Deadline for opening the facility was set for Nov. 11, 2010.

Failure to meet the timelines would invalidate a Mobius lease to use 5.7 acres of publicly owned park land, according to a resolution approved by the Park Board today. The land was purchased with $3.5 million from a 1999 voter-approved bond issue.

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The strict timelines were imposed after Mobius took three years to develop its business plan, or two more years than originally anticipated when the science center lease was initially approved in 2003 with the Inland Northwest Science and Technology Center, which later became Mobius in a merger with the Children’s Museum of Spokane.

Cost concerns raised during development of the plan led to a downsizing of the proposed center by a combined 22,000 square feet.

Jim Karel, president of the Mobius board, told Park Board members, “We have heard your issues and concerns and we have listened.”

He said, “You have held our heels to the fire. We have accepted that.”

Park Board member Ron Rector said, “I sincerely hope it happens.”

Dave Remington, a member of the Mobius board and a retired chief financial officer for Itron Inc., told Park Board members, “We thank you all for the opportunity to contribute something truly of value to the community.”

In the Mobius business plan, Remington estimated that annual attendance at a science center would be about 147,000, and that admissions and concessions would produce more than $1.3 million in the fifth year of operation. He studied financial and attendance data for science centers in 20 cities of similar size to Spokane and visited four of the centers.

Earlier this month, he said he was using conservative financial data in coming up with a plan that shows the center would in all likelihood be financially successful, earning a net profit of $150,000 by its fifth year.

The project calls for constructing a new three-dimensional IMAX theater at the science center, which would become an important moneymaker and a draw for visitors. The science center would also take advantage of ongoing sponsorships and grants to improve its cash flow, Remington said.

Park Board President Frank Knott said the aging IMAX in Riverfront Park, which has maintenance problems, should be replaced since it cannot handle a new generation of 3-D films, and that the Mobius project would avoid asking taxpayers to finance a new theater.

The only opposition at today’s meeting came from local resident Rusty Vlahovich, who told the Park Board she believed the proposal was too costly, and that it would emphasize entertainment over science education. She also raised concerns about a plan to develop and sublease five commercial buildings over the next decade to produce income for the center.

“I’m frightened we’ll get 10 years into this and regret it,” Vlahovich said.

Among the restrictions on the Mobius lease, any subleases granted for areas adjacent to Riverfront Park can only be for publicly oriented businesses or programs.

Park Board President Knott said the plan all along was to develop the science center without the use of tax-funded subsidies, and that another restriction on the lease prohibits a parking garage from having frontage facing Howard Street or Riverfront Park to the south.











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