Trail Blazers Developing Plan To Transform Rose Quarter
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Trail Blazers Working On Master
Plan For Rose Quarter Development |
Trail Blazers COO Mike Golub said that the team is "in the beginning stages of developing a master plan to make the Rose Quarter relevant not just on game nights, but 52 weeks a year," according to Kerry Eggers of the PORTLAND TRIBUNE. Golub: "We feel the Rose Quarter is a well-functioning, vital complex. ... But like any business, you have to evaluate not a month from now, but a year, five years from now. We're in the very early stages of engaging that." Golub said that the team "would like to come up with a comprehensive plan within the next year." Global Spectrum GM Mike Scanlon, whose company was the facility management partner of the Rose Quarter for the past three years, said the complex "needs a linchpin of entertainment -- a business or businesses that people want to visit every day of the week. The restaurants they originally had are not the type that are going to make people come down on weekdays to have lunch. It's got to be an ESPN SportsZone, or something of that magnitude. You can't go with Applebee's or Old Chicago." Scanlon added, "The biggest challenge is that the Rose Quarter, the Lloyd Center and the convention center are all within 10 minutes walking distance, but it's like they're 100 miles apart. They're not connected. If you could connect those three areas for all the people who come in, you'd have magic." Eggers noted the presence of the 12,000-seat Memorial Coliseum, in tandem with the 20,000-seat Rose Garden, has been a "benefit in luring some events to Portland." Golub: "In many respects, it has been a great resource for us and the city. We've been able to program it actively. Davis Cup would not have come to Portland if we hadn't had the alternative venue. Some events, like Dew Action extreme sports and the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, used both venues." However, the 48-year-old Coliseum "shows a six-figure net loss nearly every year," and the Coliseum situation "is not likely to get better." Golub: "It's a huge, older facility that is becoming increasingly hard to maintain." Golub's "preference would be to raze the Coliseum and construct a medium-size facility that could couple with the Garden for major events and also serve a need in" Portland. Sources indicated costs for a new mid-size arena could be "about $75[M]." Golub said that a new arena would be "funded through a public-private partnership." The Blazers also are "involved in acquiring a naming-rights sponsor for the Garden." Golub: "We'd like to be in the neighborhood of $4[M] a year, with a 10-years-plus contract." Golub said that the team "would like to have a naming-rights sponsor by the start" of the '08-09 season (PORTLAND TRIBUNE, 7/6).
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