First word on convention center likely three or four months away

Friday, September 11, 2009 12:51 AM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend |

By Steve Huffman

shuffman@salisburypost.com

A consultant brought to Salisbury to offer advice concerning a possible downtown event center addressed members of the board of directors of The Blanche & Julian Robertson Family Foundation on Thursday.

Bill Krueger, a consultant with Convention, Sports & Leisure of Wayzata, Minn., was hired by representatives of Downtown Salisbury Inc. He is studying, he said, market demand for an event center and plans to offer his opinion on the need for such a facility.

Consideration is being given toward building the event center as part of the old Empire Hotel complex in the 200 block of South Main Street. Downtown Salisbury Inc., which owns the hotel, is exploring the potential for an event center to be located on city-owned property near the facility.

"We specialize in evaluating these type facilities across the country," Krueger told four members of the Robertson Foundation's board and David Setzer, its executive director.

"We're very sensitive to making sure there's a need," Krueger continued. "I'm not going to put my name behind something that's not going to work."

Representatives of the Robertson Foundation are among several groups that Krueger is meeting with during his visit to Salisbury. He said it would likely be three to four months before he offered recommendations on the feasibility of an event center.

Randy Hemann, executive director of Downtown Salisbury Inc., said if Krueger's firm determines there's sufficient demand for an event center, his organization would proceed with the project's next step — determining the amount and type of space needed.

The study costs $45,000. The first phase, which costs $33,000, is paid for by Downtown Salisbury Inc.

Krueger said that in years past, he and other representatives of Conventions, Sports & Leisure have met with representatives of several other cities in North Carolina to study demand for event centers. The firm recommends against such centers as often as not, Krueger said, noting that determining demand for such facilities is sometimes relatively obvious.

He said that a few years ago, he went to Moore County to help officials there determine the need for such a center. Krueger said the Pinehurst golf resort in Moore County already has a huge event center. Building another, he said, would have been ludicrous.

"I said, 'Don't do it,' " Krueger said of his advice to Moore County officials. "It doesn't make sense."

He said event centers should be built in areas that people want to visit. For instance, an event center constructed in New Bern has been hugely successful in part because convention-goers can stroll from the facility to a walkway along the water.

But Krueger said he didn't offer representatives of the small town of Dunn much hope about the chances of an event center succeeding there. He didn't even meet with them.

"I said, 'Sorry, nobody wants to come to Dunn,' " Krueger said, his words drawing a round of laughs.

Krueger asked representatives of the Robertson Foundation the background of the organization. Setzer, its executive director, noted that foundation funds have gone to help pay for everything from an addition to Rowan Regional Medical Center to the J.F. Hurley Family YMCA.

"It's been all over the map," Setzer said of uses of the money. "The emphasis is on helping people."

Members of the Robertson Foundation's board mentioned a reception area at the Historic Salisbury Depot where 250 people can be seated as an example of existing event centers in town. The local Holiday Inn can serve as many as 300 people for a banquet. Auditoriums are available at Catawba and Livingstone colleges, as well as Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.

"What we have is disjointed facilities," Setzer said. "None of these things are connected."

Others questioned if an event center would draw enough business from outside Rowan County to justify its construction or simply be pulling activities that had previously been staged at other local locations. In other words, would the center bring enough money to the county to justify its existence?

"If we build it, will they come?" asked board member Clay Lindsay.

Krueger said that's what he wants to determine in coming weeks. He noted that such centers seldom generate a profit on their own, which is why they must be subsidized by government entities.

The appeal of such centers, Krueger said, is in the number of convention-goers they draw and how much money they spend, generating revenue for the community.

"For a community your size, it tends to be challenging," Krueger said of the need for such a center. "Why would people want to come here? Is there going to be enough of an appeal?"

Jim Hurley, a Robertson Foundation board member, said he saw no need for such a center.

"I think it's a waste of money unless you can convince me otherwise," he said early in the meeting.

Later, Hurley reiterated his comments.

"I'd love to see it work," he said. "I don't think it has a prayer."

But Hemann, Downtown Salisbury's director, said not everyone in the area shares those feelings. He also questioned why a Post reporter was invited to Thursday's meeting when Krueger planned to confer with a number of other organizations where representatives would likely be more enthused about the possibility of a downtown event center.

Several members of the Robertson Foundation's board had expressed their opposition to the center prior to Thursday.

"We had lots of meetings yesterday," Hemann said of Wednesday, Krueger's first day in town. "We had lots of people say there's a lot of merit (to the center). I hate to see the idea squashed before it's heard by everyone."