Committee to make recommendation about arena options within a week

Members of the committee charged with weighing five development proposals for a new indoor arena in Henrico County expect to make a recommendation to County Manager John Vithoulkas within a week, according to the committee's chairman.

Five development groups submitted proposals for an arena by the county's Oct. 3 deadline; a sixth suggested a site for the facility.

The only proposal whose full plan is publicly available is a massive $291-million concept that would transform the current Belmont Golf Course into a mixed-use community featuring (among other amenities) an arena, an outdoor adventure sports center, an amphitheater and 12 buildings featuring various combinations of office, retail and residential units.

The committee of about nine county representatives, chaired by Henrico Recreation and Parks Director Neil Luther, is reviewing those plans and could recommend a course of action to Vithoulkas by later this week, Luther told the Citizen Monday.

Henrico's Board of Supervisors believes an arena would serve a number of valuable purposes:

• it would allow the county to attract indoor sports tournaments and, therefore, associated tax revenues from increased hotel occupancy levels and Henrico's meals tax – both paid by out-of-town visitors;

• it would provide a site at which Henrico youngsters and adults could play a variety of sports;

• it would offer a location at which Henrico public high schools could host their graduation ceremonies, which the school system spends about $70,000 annually to hold at VCU's Siegel Center, according to school system spokesman Andy Jenks.

As the committee continues its evaluation process, several possible outcomes exist.

Committee members could decide that none of the proposals meet the county's goals. They could recommend that one or several do but that others don't. Or, they could determine that all five are worth deeper examination.

Simple goal for Henrico
Once he has the committee's recommendations, Vithoulkas then will determine the next steps, Luther said. If Vithoulkas deems a proposal or multiple proposals worthy of further scrutiny, he will request specific, detailed information from those groups as part of a second phase of analysis.

The Board of Supervisors solicited proposals in August through the state's Public-Private Education and Infrastructure Act of 2002, which allows private companies to construct and operate various facilities on behalf of localities or the state. The program is designed to allow such facilities to be built faster – and with less risk for localities – than traditional infrastructure projects.

That appeals to Henrico officials.

"The ultimate goal for the county is pretty simple," Luther said. "The county wants to put as much cost and as much risk onto another entity or an outside entity as possible."

Though key details about four of the proposals – such as financing plans, economic impact statements and specific intended locations for an arena – were redacted in the public versions released by the county last week, the Belmont Community Development group did not redact anything in its proposal to remake the Lakeside golf course.

"We were surprised," Luther said of that decision, terming the group's plan "expansive.

"It definitely was bold in terms of its interpretation of the requirements of the solicitation. They honestly went further in thinking through the process than others.”

One of the other proposals – from Eastern Sports Management – identified the Richmond Raceway as a preferred site for its arena plans. Another – from MEB General Contractors, Inc. – seemed to indicate plans for an arena at Glover Park, the county’s newly opened complex in Glen Allen, named for longtime Brookland District Supervisor Dick Glover, who died last year.

It was Glover who more than a decade ago first floated the idea of building convocation center.

Creation of a CDA?
Little is known about the proposals submitted by S.B. Ballard Construction Company or The Rebkee Company/Hourigan Development; both groups redacted specific arena details from the public versions of their concepts.

The Belmont proposal was significant in Luther’s estimation because it showed that private developers believe there is a more valuable use for the site than its current identity allows.

The Belmont plan seems to suggest the creation of a community development authority, through which Henrico would back the issuance of $70.8 million in tax-exempt bonds to fund construction of the arena. Establishment of a CDA would allow the developer to obtain low-rate funding by piggybacking on the county's stellar triple-AAA bond rating, while simultaneously absolving Henrico of any risk if the project failed.

Henrico has previously created CDAs to assist with the construction of Short Pump Town Center and the Shops at White Oak Village. Whether county officials would consider doing so for an arena, though, is not known.

County officials intentionally left their request for proposals somewhat general, Luther said, hoping to attract a variety of ideas. They were happy with the submissions.

“Truthfully we didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “Overall, I think we were generally pleased. We wanted to see what the private sector would bring to the table."