Idea of local civic center takes first step

A steering committee is being formed to look at the potential of bringing a performing arts or civic center to the Flathead Valley.

Kalispell Mayor Tammi Fisher is requesting volunteers to serve on the committee, she said at the end of a scoping session Friday afternoon at Kalispell City Hall.

The consensus from the meeting seemed to be that the valley will have a hard time attracting major conventions due to limited transportation — there need to be additional flights or more seating on existing flights at Glacier Park International Airport.

A performing arts center apparently is needed. A conundrum exists, however, because conventions typically are what pay for the lion’s share of such a building’s costs. Concerts and other musical venues, while they may be popular, don’t pay enough.

Fisher said a lot of people have approached her about the topic.

Jason Spring, chief executive officer at North Valley Hospital, related his experiences with building a convention center in downtown Hot Springs, Ark.

“It got a lot of conventions because it was cheaper than Little Rock,” he said. These conventions were held during the shoulder seasons of fall and spring, but parking could be a problem at times, he said.

The Hot Springs Convention Center was funded by a bond issue. In addition, a 3-cent sales tax was used to promote the convention center and subsidize operating losses in the early years, he said. The project’s 30-year bonds were retired in 15 years. “It was a huge economic driver” for the area, he said, which had 100,000 people.

The Hot Springs Convention Center was so successful that it developed a $3 million to $4 million budget. “It was hard to get into [for scheduling],” he said.

The debt was retired faster than expected because “it was way busier than they thought it would be,” Spring said.

The building was 300,000 square feet. The project was started in the 1980s and finished in the early 1990s, including three additions, he said. One of the additions was an arena, with its naming rights sold to a local bank.

Hot Springs is near a national park and had other attractions such as horse racing and a lake nearby. These are similar to Flathead County’s situation, he said.

Spring said he got interested in building such a facility in Flathead County after he had to drive to Billings for a hospital convention.

“We have challenges having enough airline service,” he said. He believes such a project here “needs to be a valleywide effort. I think it should be downtown [Kalispell],” he said.

Jan Metzmaker of the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau said the Flathead Valley is a “cul-de-sac for transportation. We would have to charter planes for conventions,” she said.

Chris Walters, general manager of Hilton Garden Inn, said the local transportation situation is “unbearable.” There are not enough seats on existing flights at Glacier Park International Airport. “They only give you 15 percent of the plane for groups,” a woman said.

Kalispell Chamber of Commerce President Joe Unterreiner said Glacier Park International Airport Manager Cindi Martin is working on an “air bank” to more aggressively lobby airlines to bring additional flights to the area.

Kalispell City Manager Jane Howington noted that a civic/performing arts center effort in Flathead County would not be run by a local government. “Government does help in initiating, provoking and promoting,” she added.

Unterreiner said local government couldn’t use bonding because that would have to be approved by the state Legislature. Local governments could use tax increment financing. Federal “brownfields” grant funds might be available for revitalizing blighted areas near the city’s core, Howington said. “New market” tax credits for projects more than $5 million or $10 million  also might be used.

A performing arts or civic center in Flathead County should seat around 1,300 people at a cost of $8 million to $12 million, Howington said. Such a project would need at least 3.5 acres, not including parking.

She suggested that a local nonprofit group could run the facility, which would take at least two years to build.

Unterreiner spoke about the Glacier Performing Arts Center project that was started in 2000 and resulted in a feasibility study by ArtsMarket Inc., a Bozeman firm. The study called for creation of a 1,500- to 1,700-person facility along with a versatile 150- to 250-person hall for theatrical and other events. 

Jayson Peters is the president of the Glacier Performing Arts Center committee. The group had pledges totaling $5.2 million, he said. The nonprofit committee has between $25,000 and $30,000 remaining. That dormant project spent some $200,000 to $250,000 on architectural designs for a 1,120-person performing arts facility.

The committee started raising money toward a $16 million project before the economy “dropped out” in 2008, he said.

Peters said there still is some interest in building a performing arts center.

The committee previously was offered a location near Glacier High School. “The city airport’s not a bad idea,” he added, referring to Kalispell’s general aviation airport.

Peters wondered about using shoulder seasons for events. “I don’t know you would want to showcase this place in April or November. I don’t know that you’ll get anyone [to come] back. May or October might be O.K.”

Dave Handy of Lakeside said he previously was involved with a performing arts center in Wisconsin. Those involved “were perpetually in fundraising mode because theater doesn’t pay enough, even though it sells out.”

Alan Satterlee of the Glacier Symphony said that group has trouble filling a 700-seat facility. He said the symphony is currently using Flathead High School’s auditorium, but getting dates can be a problem due to other scheduled events.

The Glacier Center project “got way too big and too expensive for donors,” he said. “We don’t have a big enough population base to support huge concerts.”

Howington noted that the Flathead County Fairgrounds is the biggest place available locally for trade shows.

Mark Campbell, the new manager at Flathead County Fairgrounds, encouraged those interested to “be bold with your thoughts.”

Local resident Carl Feig said he’s been advocating an auditorium since 1985. “Think big,” he said. “Build it. They are coming.”

Pam Carbonari, coordinator of the Kalispell Business Improvement District and former mayor, said the area is “sorely lacking a facility” for acoustics. “We have spent a lot of money and done a lot of research,” she said, referring to the Glacier Center project.

She said the performing arts community suffered a “significant loss” of two downtown theaters (Strand and Liberty) that are now being used by the Fresh Life and Skull churches.

Fisher asked anyone interested in sitting on the steering committee to e-mail her at tfisher@kalispell.com.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.