Ramsey County will bid for troubled Vadnais Heights arena

Source: Pioneer Press, St.儲存倉 Paul, Minn.Sept. 04--After nearly two hours of closed-door discussion, the Ramsey County board voted 6-1 Tuesday to make an offer on the troubled Vadnais Heights sports arena.The decision places the county in the running to own the 200,000-square-foot domed complex, dumped by the city of Vadnais Heights in August 2012 after the arena failed to generate enough revenue to pay back bondholders who invested $26 million to build it.It was put up for sale in July with an asking price of $13 million; though minimum bids could come in as low as $8 million. It is owned by Community Facility Partners.Details of how much the county will offer for the site were not made public Tuesday. All bids are due Sept. 6.County Commissioner Blake Huffman, whorepresents Vadnais Heights, said the arena would make a great addition to the county's fleet of ice rinks.The sports center houses two hockey rinks, a domed field and running track, as well as locker rooms and a concession area. A sports bar is attached to the arena."Think about it," Huffman said. "We already have 11 rinks in the county. This is not new to us. We have an opportunity, if we're successful, to pick up a great rink. We can jump about five decades, from going to rinks that are 50 years old to a 3-year-old rink."County Commissioner Rafael Ortega echoed those comments, pointing out how costly it is to update old arenas. The county paid $1 million to renovate Highland Arena 10 years ago, Ortega said."These arenas were built in the '70s, and they are heading into 50 years of service, so we are moving forward," Ortega said. "I believe this is going to be a very, very good deal for us."Janice Rettman was the only commissioner to vote against making an offer."I have not been persuaded this is an investment I can feel comfortable with," Rettman said, declining to detail how she reached her decision.She noted tough economic times in comments made last week about the potential deal.No deal will come 迷你倉價錢o fruition unless the county is convinced that user fees can cover most of the costs, Huffman said, including operational, internal debt service and future capital reserves."It was important to me that the conversation was very comfortably headed toward 'no taxpayer dollars will be used for this hockey rink,' " Huffman said.Unlike the position Vadnais Heights found itself in when initial revenue projections for the sports center fell short, the county has solid data documenting the arena's performance over the past three years to inform its decision, according to Art Coulson, Ramsey County's communications director."We will look at the cost of acquisition and operations and fees, and if they don't match, we don't buy it," Coulson said, adding that a review of the arena's finances so far seems to indicate user fees will cover costs.There is no guarantee the county's offer will be accepted. A representative for the company marketing the sale, Ray Giannini of Marcus and Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, said last week that all offers will be reviewed, and the highest and best will be selected.Other offers have been submitted, though Giannini declined to say by whom.Representatives from Community Facility Partners could not be reached Tuesday, but an attorney for the owners said last week that the county is an attractive potential buyer.To buy the arena, the county would front the money, then gradually pay itself back by leasing out ice time, so the building would effectively pay for its own purchase."That building will be 100 percent paid for by user fees," Huffman said.Frederick Melo can be reached at fmelo@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-2172. Follow him at twitter.com/FrederickMelo. Sarah Horner can be reached at horner@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5539. Follow her at twitter.com/hornsarah.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) Visit the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) at .twincities.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉