Simplified: As the city eyes the possibility of a downtown convention center and repurposing of the existing convention center into indoor recreation space, there's a question that remains: What happens to the Arena?
Why it matters
- The Sioux Falls Arena was built in 1960, and it's not aging very gracefully, according to an in-depth consultant report shared with the city this week. A handful of options were presented to repurpose the facility for public recreation, but there's also the option to just tear the whole thing down and start fresh.
- City Finance Director Shawn Pritchett said the Arena operates at a loss, and noted the facility was in the red by about $600,000 last year. And, because of the age of the Arena, Pritchett said the city hasn't invested in major upgrades or repairs due to its uncertain future.
- Of the four options presented to the city's Riverline Steering Committee and Events Center Complex Task Force, only one involves demolition. There are ways the building can be repurposed to house turf fields, ropes courses, playgrounds or even rock climbing walls.
- With those options comes the underlying decision the city must make: invest in preserving the history of the Arena, or tear it down and let future leaders decide what could fill that space.
"(The Arena) has a lot of infrastructure needs," said Tom Poulos, CEO of Williams Architects, noting that costs to renovate the facility compared to tearing it down bring "not a great deal of savings."
How did we get here?
The consultant report was a result of ongoing work by the city and the Riverline Steering Committee to figure out whether Sioux Falls should build a new downtown convention center. More on that here:
Megan Raposa
Part of the Riverline District vision for the last year has been to repurpose the existing convention center as indoor recreation space. It's these plans that got more fleshed out with the latest consultant report, which included four options for how the city could use both the convention center and arena in the future.
What are the options?
All four plans have about the same basic setup for the future of the existing convention center.
- That includes turning the 50,000-square-foot convention floor space into multi-purpose courts that can be used for basketball, pickleball, volleyball or futsal (a sort of indoor soccer game).
- Then, the concourse/walkway portion of the center would include indoor playgrounds and some flexible space.
The primary difference in the four proposed options – which, Mayor Paul TenHaken emphasized, are essentially a "napkin sketch" of what could happen – is what happens to the Arena.
- The first two options would repurpose the Arena floorspace into a turf field. Depending on how much of the current seating is removed, it could also accommodate a walking track.
- The third option would turn the Arena into a "destination playground" with a ropes course, climbing wall and a designated "tot playground" for younger kids.
- The fourth option would involve demolishing the Arena, which would leave space for future development that could be just about anything, including a fieldhouse with a 120-yard football field.
What will all of this cost?
Good question. I'll let the mayor take this one:
"No idea," TenHaken said.
Consultant estimates put the renovation plans somewhere between $40 million and $60 million. That doesn't account for future costs to build something new in the space if the Arena is torn down.
It's also worth noting that all of this is contingent on Sioux Falls residents supporting plans to build a new downtown convention center.
- The city has been authorized to purchase the downtown parcel of land, and now the clock is ticking on breaking ground in the next five years before the purchase agreement gives the previous owners a chance to buy it back.
- Ultimately, it'll be up to a public vote to decide the future of the Riverline District, and then the city can look at what's next for the existing building.
"We don't have to do this," TenHaken said during a joint committee meeting Thursday. "We can limp along with a 30-year-old convention center ... but are we Sioux Falls? Or are we Sioux City?"
What happens next?
Public input. So far there hasn't been a formal process to seek community feedback on either the downtown convention center plan or the future of the Arena and Convention Center.
There's likely to be a formal input process, but if you have feedback in the meantime, you can always email mayor@siouxfalls.gov.
