EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The El Paso City Council is set to revisit discussions on a new site for the Multipurpose Performing Arts and Entertainment Center (MPC) in Downtown El Paso.
A decision and vote on this resolution was postponed at a City Council meeting a month ago. City Council members said they wanted more input from the community and to make them feel part of the process.
This will be the latest chapter of a nearly 12-year process that has seen the 2012 voter-approved vision of a Downtown arena be shot down by residents and advocates of the Duranguito neighborhood. Now, the City Council is considering a proposed amphitheater in the Union Station Depot area in Downtown El Paso.
The Union Station plan has emerged as the favorite, involving a hybrid facility with indoor and outdoor seating with a maximum capacity of 8,000 seats, which is nearly half as much as originally envisioned for the Downtown arena.
Those plans would be affordable under the project’s current budget, which is down to $162 million from the initial budget of $180 million.
KTSM spoke with the City of El Paso’s architect Daniela Quesada earlier this year after the decision was postponed. She argued that the original vision of an arena was “stagnant” and outdated.
“We would want to keep the flexibility; we would want to stay in this more modern model of an entertainment facility,” Quesada said. “Cities that have invested large sums of money in large arenas have not found it to be the economic catalyst that it was theorized to be. This is what’s at the cutting edge of entertainment facilities that cities are moving towards.”
Since the postponement of the vote by City Council in early February, the City of El Paso has hosted several community meetings regarding the site selection process and the proposed alternatives for the MPC, in which some people expressed their opposition to the new proposal.
“I’m curious to see if there’s any way to get this project put before the voters again, so that we can vote on it and decline it and then vote on something else that the city really wants. I don’t think they want a 4,000 seat arena that costs $150,000 per seat. That doesn’t make any sense,” said an El Paso resident at one of the community meetings.
The Downtown Management District (DMD) will be hosting a press conference at 10 a.m. Monday, March 11 to address the new proposed facility. The DMD “a municipal government focused on delivering economic development-driven initiatives, more vibrant, welcoming environment,” according to its website.
DMD’s Executive Director Joe Gudenrath told KTSM that they’re supporters of the original voter-approved large-scale arena envisioned in 2012.
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