Event Center needed, wanted by community

To Duane Hagadone and his newspaper staff:

We are truly sorry that you are opposed to the effort to bring a new sports and community facility to Cd'A for use in our high school and college athletics programs as well as a gathering and venue space for the community at large. This facility could help so much in providing jobs and economic stimulus for our local businesses (projected at $15 million annually) ... and your company could help so much by supporting it. We know that your company believes in this type of facility because of your support for a similar project that you are contributing to located across from your hotel in Moscow. We continue to view the Hagadone Corporation as the creator of the high end tourism in Coeur d'Alene, for which we are grateful, as it not only benefits The Cd'A Resort and the shops downtown, but it also helps to ensure that we have the money coming into the community that we need in order to give those who consider this their home a chance to survive and be successful.

As you are fully aware, there is absolutely no adequate venue space in Cd'A for graduations on both the high school and collegiate levels as well as anywhere we can gather to give our athletes support during tournaments and larger games. For years now, the parents of these students have had to spend weekends traveling to other facilities to watch their son/daughter play their favorite sport due to the lack of venue space in Cd'A. Furthermore, it will serve as a very beneficial space for community gatherings and much needed smaller venue entertainment that we are unable to currently provide in our area. It will also greatly assist in bringing business to our local hotels, restaurants and retail shops during the winter months when it is needed the most.

There are many very respected members and leaders of the community that have worked on this project on a volunteer basis and put a lot of time and effort into making sure that this project will be correctly sized for the community both in the terms of costs and number of seats it will provide. The NIC Board of Trustees has engaged 30+ people that are stakeholders, community business people and knowledgeable citizens of Coeur d'Alene to review the economics and make a final proposal to the full board in August. We have also worked with a consultant that has done more than 200 of these projects including the McCarthey Center and the Memorial Arena in Spokane. Due to the fact that this project will have no debt associated with it, as most arenas do, we will simply have the operational shortfall to focus on. We are putting together a funding model through private donations and seat licensing that will cover any shortfall that will arise and the funding for this facility will require no new taxes.

In regards to the design on the building, we plan to engage 4 or 5 different design/build teams to give us bids and concepts for a building that will be aesthetically pleasing as well as fit within our $15 million budget. The conceptual drawings we have now are simply a scoping model for the purposes of sizing and bidding the facility, but there is still a lot of time left between now and choosing the final design. We can assure you that the final design will be up to Riverstone standards, will be complimentary to its surroundings, and will become something that the community can point to with great pride.

With the projected $15 million of new money that this facility could provide to the community on an annual basis, the value proposition is obvious and we have received overwhelming community support. We are hopeful that you will reconsider your opposition to this effort and join the growing list of 300+ community members that have expressed their support and enthusiasm for this project and have offered their assistance in getting it built.

John Stone is the owner of Riverstone.