Committee suggests Richmond Raceway as site for arena

Henrico officials charged with reviewing six proposals for the construction of an indoor arena have recommended two finalists and suggested that the facility be built at Richmond Raceway.

In an Oct. 22 letter to Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas, the committee recommended that concepts from MEB General Contractors Inc. and Eastern Sports Management, LLC advance to a second phase of consideration.

“In their respective submissions, each of these two offerors demonstrated a clear and superior understanding of the youth sports industry and the opportunities and challenges faced by localities like Henrico seeking to optimize their market position both locally and nationally,” wrote committee chairman Neil Luther, Henrico’s Recreation and Parks director.

The committee weighed the proposals according to a number of factors, including their strengths, financing plans and community benefits; compatibility with Henrico’s long-term development goals; and the experience of each group with similar projects, Luther wrote.

The committee concluded that Richmond Raceway was “the preferred and only site location” for an arena, but Luther told the Citizen that the recommendation doesn't necessarily preclude other sites from eventual consideration.

The raceway is the preferred location, he said, given its proximity to interstates, its central location in the county and the fact that the site already contains the necessary infrastructure for an arena.

"It's very shovel-ready," Luther said.

The arena wouldn't be a fit at the county-owned Glover Park in Glen Allen, he said, because a significant portion of the land on which the park sits was donated to Henrico with a deed that limits the type of development that can occur there.

"We can't build a large building on a significant portion of that property," Luther said.

Supervisors could hold public hearing in December

Henrico officials made a request for proposal July 30 through the state’s Public-Private Education and Infrastructure Act of 2002, which allows private entities to enter agreements with localities to build a wide range of facilities. The PPEA is designed to foster faster completion of such projects by allowing private groups to fund them in whole or part initially and recoup their money through agreements with the localities.

The benefits to localities: new facilities, completed faster than they likely would have been otherwise, payable over time, with a reduced financial risk.

Henrico officials believe the time is right for an indoor arena that could amplify the county’s commitment to sports tourism and allow it to host a variety of local, state, regional and national games and tournaments, as well as its high school graduations.

Henrico realized more than $47 million in economic impact from amateur sports tournaments and related spending on hotel rooms, retail outings and dining last year alone, according to county officials.

Once both groups submit detailed proposals, officials intend to review them with the Board of Supervisors during a work session. The board then would hold a public hearing – perhaps at its December meeting – and could select a partner at that time or shortly thereafter.

Details about Eastern Sports Management’s proposed Henrico Field House are not known; the company redacted all specifics, including its proposed size and scope, from the version of the proposal that is publicly available, citing a desire for confidentiality.

But as part of its proposal, ESM officials wrote that the company would partner with SCOR (the Sports Center of Richmond), which would operate indoor soccer leagues at the arena. SCOR currently operates its own 108,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor sports facility near the Diamond and I-95 in Richmond.

Construction of MEB’s proposed Henrico County Sports and Events Center would “transform the county into a national leader in sports tourism,” company officials wrote in their proposal. MEB similarly redacted most key details about its plan but did indicate an intent to honor late Brookland District Supervisor Dick Glover with the facility.

“Mr. Glover had a vision of the impacts that youth sports would have long before sport tourism was an industry,” officials wrote. “He understood that tax revenue generated by non-county resident would lessen the tax burden on Henrico citizens and increase local business.

“We envision the Henrico County Sports and Events Center to further Mr. Glover’s legacy and vision.”

ESM, founded in 2010, built and manages two other facilities in Virginia – the 75,000-square-foot Fredericksburg Field House and 175,000-square-foot Virginia Beach Field House – as well as a swim and sport center in Fredericksburg and a sports training center in Pennsylvania. It also has a contract to manage the Virginia Beach Sports Center, an indoor arena with 4,500 seats that will open in 2020.

Company officials term ESM “the premier public/private sports facility operator in Virginia.

“ESM knows how, in a single building, to satisfy local users’ need for recreation space while still meeting economic impact objectives by bringing visitors to the County,” they wrote in their proposal to Henrico.

MEB’s proposal champions its plan to work with industry experts with extensive experience building and operating similar facilities. MEB, a Virginia-based construction firm, would partner with American Sports Centers (a nationwide sports facility management company) and Phase 5 Sports Management (a Virginia sports management company), among other companies. MEB currently is working on Henrico County’s massive Cobbs Creek Dam water project in Cumberland County, which eventually will provide a new, long-term source of water for Henrico citizens and others in the region.

The MEB facility facility would include 12 basketball courts (convertible to 24 volleyball courts) and six collegiate-size basketball courts, as well as multi-purpose spaces, concession and dining areas, retractable seating, team rooms, administrative offices and referee rooms, among other designated spaces.

It also could incorporate a “Glover Wall” Hall of Fame to honor noteworthy Henrico athletes, as well as lobby space honoring Glover, officials wrote.