[Sly Fox]

Civic center feasibility under study

By BRYAN GENTRY
Published: January 30, 2011

A consulting firm intends to find out whether a sports, entertainment and convention center could make ends meet in the Lynchburg region.

The Region 2000 Economic Development Council has hired Weston Sports Marketing to study the Lynchburg market as a location for a civic center. Liberty University is paying for most of the study.

“Everybody quickly sees the desirability of such a facility, but we also have to go out and find out, is it economically viable,” said Bryan David, executive director of the Economic Development Council, which is coordinating the study.

Click Here for Full Story

[From the class of 09]

This would be nice if it happens but I'm trying to picture LU and Lynchburg working together on something this big and I'm struggling to see it.

[thepostman]

It would be great to have a biggest facility to house convo weekly if that is the direction they go which is what talked about some the last time this came up. If that happened then the Vines could really be designed much better for our basketball program.

[flamesbball84]

FINALLY. Been saying for years that Lynchburg needed one, if the results determine that it's not feasible, then I will finally shut up about it.

[bigsmooth]

if LU's use for it is for convocation, then sure i would be in agreement for it, but for basketball?? not so sure. my questions would be the capacity of this place, would it have and auditorium for theatre shows, an exhibit hall for trade shows or small events? this place would also need to be managed by a professional corporation. since the roanoke civic center entered an agreement with Global Spectrum they are getting some of the same shows that JPJ in charlottesville is getting, and they are run by SMG. this is what these companies do, run arenas and book shows. i think the only way this could work in lynchburg is for this palce to be at least the size of JPJ, maybe even bigger, and have a managament company take control of the building and guarantee x amount of events per year, like many of these companies do. i will be interested to see the findings of this study.

[flamesfan30]

if we want to future proof it for liberty growth and convo, i think it would have to be closer to 20,000 than 15,000 seats. otherwise, there's no real point in even building it at all cause we would out grow that just like the vines. the goal is still 25,000 residential students and every day that passes we are closer to that becoming a reality. whether a civic center than can accommodate 20 more years of liberty growth is feasible or not right now should be the main focus of the study.

i feel like for a long time here the lack of a civic center and an interstate were connected. if we want big events to come to this town than people need a better way of getting here (Im looking at you route 29 in Charlottesville). liberty is changing this as we grow but things like a real civic center and an interstate would be a significant jump forward and an opening of the gates to more growth.

I cant see us leaving the vines for basketball in the next 10 years, if ever. we are a football school and always will be, and with that there's no point in having a pure basketball facility any bigger than what we have now.

[jcmanson]

whether a civic center than can accommodate 20 more years of liberty growth is feasible or not right now should be the main focus of the study.

No it shouldn't. LU convocations don't bring in money.

[flamesfan30]

but we'd probably pay a lot for the rights to use it for convo. if we dont use it, it cant be built.

[bigsmooth]

whether a civic center than can accommodate 20 more years of liberty growth is feasible or not right now should be the main focus of the study.

No it shouldn't. LU convocations don't bring in money.

agreed on that manson. is LU going to fork out a hefty rental fee for convo use?? or if the building is put on LU property, is a fee even paid??who really knows. the study i think is on the feasibility to build it and have the building booked most of the time. cities like richmond, norfolk, greensboro, winston-salem etc. have had to subsidize their civic centers and coliseums and have gone to maanagment companies to run these facilities. this is a risky venture in my mind, but im looking forward to seeign the study when its complete.

[flamesfan30]

but would they be able to book it and make money with only 70,000 in lynchburg, with similar buildings in charlottesville and roanoke only an hour away?

i dont really think so. not without liberty. i either see us footing a large part of the bill to build it or it not being built, more so than us renting it at a hefty price for convo.

[aredd33]

Assuming all of this gets the go ahead...what are the possible locations for it?

[rogers3]

Logistically speaking, a large city owned arena used as a convocation hall is a poor move for all involved. How do you get 12-15,000 students to a site that isn't central to the main campus. It is hard enough to get from a class on North Campus to one in DeMoss. Secondly, an arena that is used mostly by Liberty (i.e. convo) is a stupid move for a local or regional board. By taking up the facility 3 days a week from 9-11:30 (set-up, take down plus meeting time) the facility will be very limited in its use for some of the things that many localities use these type of structures for. No multi-day conferences, no trade shows, no circus... the list could get long. I think that the best option for LU's use is for athletic events and will be a long time before we ever use a facility the size of JPJ. Just think- Metallica roadies hustling out LU set-up crews.

If we already have an 8500 seat facility and there is a possibility of expanding it, it seems the most logical choice, to me.

[Hold My Own]

The more I read about the "Stadium issues" they are having in L.A. I cant help but to think about Lynchburg. I keep hearing how difficult the L.A. politics can be to get something like this done and it reminds me of somewhere else I know...

[Schfourteenteen]

If the Center is built on Liberty Mountain, do the WWE Divas have to wear more clothes when they stop by?


I sure hope not.

[Sly Fox]

Are Stars Aligning for a Central Virginia Civic Center?

By The News & Advance
Published: February 06, 2011

It’s been a dream of folks in Central Virginia for more than two decades: a civic center the region could call its own.

The only problem has been one of numbers. Too much money to construct the facility. Too high of a subsidy from local governments to keep it operating. Too low of a population base to support it.

Throw into the mix the fact that Roanoke, Charlottesville and Salem have such facilities ­— all within a hundred miles or so of Lynchburg — and many people have been skeptical of the viability of such an undertaking.

Click Here for Full Story

[PAmedic]

annnnnnndddddd...... yet another fishwrap story comments section goes down the rabbit trail of "citizens of the 'burg vs. the evil empire that is LU"

[Hold My Own]

If it seems like the same rabbit trail it's b/c it is from the same couple idiots every time. I think they (N&A) have cut down on the same people having 100 different names but I think it's still a issue. Is idiots to harsh of a word? I'll leave it for now....ignorant would be another term for these individuals

[From the class of 09]

And the results are in...turns out we need another study

This Q&A piece is more informative then the original article...

http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2011/j ... r-1133565/

[LUconn]

They're just gonna keep issuing studies until they get the answer they want.

[UVALibertyFan]

They could pay me half the amount for the new study and I would tell them what they want to hear...

But seriously, I am interested to see where they say a Civic Center should be built. The only location that makes sense without tearing anything down is to build it where the shopping center and then office park were to be built, between the intramural fields and the new bridge across the railroad.

My dream for a civic center, which will never happen, would be to tear down River Ridge, except the movie theater, and build a two-story outdoor shopping center, a smaller Short Pump, with the Civic Center as part of the center. I'm not sure if there is quite enough space for all that, but with a couple of parking garages it may be doable.

[From the class of 09]

Region 2000 to partially fund Lynchburg civic center study

The Region 2000 Local Government Council agreed Thursday to pay a portion of the cost of an economic impact study for a proposed 10,000-seat civic center in Lynchburg.

The council, consisting of government employees and elected officials, agreed Thursday pay a $6,250 share of the cost to hire a consultant to complete the study.

...The civic center could end up costing about $70 million, David said, instead of $100 million as consultants have suggested. The new study would look at the “ripple effect” that he said such a center could have on area communities.


http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2011/j ... r-1188707/

[badger74]

River Ridge should not and will not be torn down. It is very viable and just needs to ride out this recession. Now the Plaza--that should be torn down ASAP and redeveloped unless LU needs the space for cheap office/classrooms. If the location were not so bad it might be a place for the Civic Center but access is not good enough. The proposed mall location near LU seems promising as would one farther north along 460 at the next exit. But land there might be too hilly.

[UVALibertyFan]

I agree about the Plaza, that area of the city cannot support a large shopping center. It should be redeveloped into a mixed use development with commercial, office, and residential components. The site does have the benefits of being near the hospital and Lynchburg College. That is unless Liberty is planning to use the space for a future medical school?

[JLFJR]

Lots of good comments and questions here. I fielded some of the same questions at a Region 2000 board meeting last week. I think some background information would help clear up what is happening.

For at least five years, LU has considered the idea of constructing a huge metal building similar to Schilling (but even larger) that would be used only for Convocation and similar events. The cost of setting up and taking down the stage, chairs and sound system in Vines three times per week is high and holding Convocation there creates a logistical nightmare when the same venue is also used for volleyball, basketball and other athletic events.

This approach has its pros and cons. Metal buildings like Schilling are fairly cheap but ugly on a college campus. Instead of building a Convocation Center, we approached the city and surrounding counties about a Civic Center because every public survey I have seen of Lynchburg area residents in the last 20 years indicates that the local citizens believe a Civic Center is the one thing that the Lynchburg area needs most. The thought was, instead of spending the money on a new Schilling-style Convocation Center, LU could rent the new Civic Center for athletic events and let Vines become our Convocation Center. We thought LU's use of such a local Civic Center might be the difference between it being economically feasible or not for the region and the studies are indicating we were right.

Architects tell us that an upper deck in Vines and the rearrangement of the existing seating (now allowed due to code changes) could expand its capacity by several thousand people as needed for future student body growth.

The new Civic Center does not need to be any larger than 10,000 seats for the foreseeable future. The University of Virginia played basketball at U Hall up until a few years ago and the seating capacity there was less than 10,000 seats, I believe. (I think I read recently its capacity was 8457.) I think 10,000 seats gives us plenty of room to grow our crowds for basketball.

So, the bottomline is the benefits to the local community of having a local Civic Center would be great and LU would be spending the money it would have spent to build a Convocation Center (or to set up Vines for Convo 3 times per week) to rent the new center for athletic events. Parking would be much better for local residents to attend the games.

The question is whether the numbers will make sense, i.e., will the cost of rent be close enough to the cost of some of our other options to go forward? We will find out over the next few months, I suspect.

[JLFJR]

Duke, Glad you like the concept. Good point about making sure it feels like home court for LU. I was in the Greensboro Coliseum recently and I thought the fact that the coliseum was also UNC-G's home basketball venue seemed to be prominent. Do you think they did it right there? All of this will need to be negotiated along with the rental payments. Thanks!