An interesting idea emerged today during the Reunion Arena wake at the city council’s economic development committee meeting. Councilman Dwaine Caraway, who last week was blowing smoke about taking on the owners of the AAC arena and getting them to renegotiate a years-old deal giving them first-right on most major events downtown (specifically those occurring at Reunion Arena), apparently wised up and realized that idea was a non-starter.
But then, according to a DMN story, Caraway offered an intriguing possibility, if the city handles it correctly. Apparently, the aforementioned agreement with the AAC doesn’t include the 9,816-seat Dallas convention center arena, which sounds as if it has been sitting mostly dormant for a number of years (note: Wikipedia puts the seating at 7,428 and says the ABA Dallas Chaparrals once played there). Caraway obtained approval from the economic development committee to request that city staff draw up a plan to find out what it will take to make the convention center arena capable of hosting events to provide some competition for the AAC.
This has the potential to be a great idea, if the city remembers that it’s a city and not an events promoter or a real estate developer. Why? Well, if there is really a market for a smaller-venue space downtown (larger than the House of Blues but smaller than the AAC), and if the convention center arena is strategically located to take advantage of that market void, who should renovate and operate the facility — the city or a private operator?
The answer, without knowing anything else about the deal, is a private operator. Why? In the most simple terms, if a private operator believes it can make money with the convention center arena, they’ll offer a legitimate proposal. And with the proper oversight of a private developer running a city-owned facility (see the recent Superpages.com rent scuffle), it could work. But if no private developers want to do the deal, let’s take that as a sign that there’s no deal there and save the time, money and inevitable screwups that will be associated with the city’s operation of the facility.
In other words, let’s not start yet another taxpayer-subsidized or -funded project downtown without finding someone else willing to put up a whole bunch of money.
Still, good idea Mr. Caraway. Just don’t blow it now…
