Bemidji State News Reporting S'11: Sanford Center: Where the Money Came From

The Implications Involving Bold Investment and How it will Impact Bemidji

By Brandon Miles

The Sanford Center is a multi-million-dollar project designed to seat 4,000 people in the arena bowl for hockey and up to 6,000 people for concerts and shows. According to the Bemidji Regional Event Center web site, the budget for the event center is just over $75 million. This is a large investment and there are residents who do not support the construction of the Sanford Center. Bemidji resident Eleanor Davis is very pessimistic towards the idea of the Sanford Center improving the city. "The BREC will only bring in outsiders that will make money off our city instead of bring money to the city. It just doesn't seem economically viable." This implication conveys questions on what the true goal of the Sanford Center is. Will the center improve Bemidji or bring it crashing down? There is also conjecture among BSU athletes that the Sanford Center will contribute to improvements to the athletic facilities. Derek Edholm, quarterback of the BSU football team has been informed that the Beaver Pride has aspirations to upgrade the old hockey arena to a new indoor facility that will support the soccer and football team. "Since the hockey teams have moved to the Sanford Center it opens room to create an indoor field where the hockey teams used to play." It seems that there will be an impact but the big question is will it have enough of an impact for how much money was invested.

According to Sanford Center manager Bob LeBarron, the city of Bemidji secured three legislative sessions that created a partnership between City of Bemidji, the State of Minnesota, and Bemidji State University with intentions to bring the Sanford Center to Bemidji. In these legislative sessions each partner sent representatives to meet with city council on how to proceed with project in the most efficient way possible. These meetings also enabled the city to secure funds that supported the construction of the Sanford Center. According Bemidji Regional Events Center website, the money that funded the construction of the Sanford Center is composed of sales tax revenue bonds ($42,000,00), state bonds ($20,000,000), state planning funds ($3,000,000), TIF bonds ($5,037,853), and land sales ($4,136,00). Once these sources were specified, the budget for the Sanford Center peaked to $74,173,853. The last $1.2 million was established through a grant from D.E.E.D. (Department of Employment and Economic Development). The initial cost of constructing the Sanford Center was $64,753,045 but there were additional corrections and site improvements that forced another $10 million in improvements.

Since the construction of the Sanford Center, the city assigned the operations contract to VenuWorks. This contract enables VenuWorks to provide facility management, day-to-day operations, and marketing for the Sanford Center. The management fee is $9,000 a month with increases up to 3% every three months. There is also an advisory board assigned by the city council that frequently meets with VenuWorks advisors to ensure both organizations are in agreement. The representatives for the city are Mike Miller who is a specialist in building inspection and Craig Gray who is an engineer. The two representatives meet with Bob LeBarron on a monthly base.

With the Sanford Center built and running, there have been positive impacts on the city. According to Athletic Director Richard Goeb, "Now that BSU hockey's future is secured it will continually contribute an estimated $4.1 million to the local economy." On January 29th, the Sanford Center hosted a premiere concert starring Blake Shelton and the concert sold out. This concert brought people to Bemidji from all over the state in which they spent money on food, alcohol, clothes, and taxi cab rides which ultimately contributes to the city's economy. Bob Evaretz of Bemidji taxi stated, "During the weekend of the concert I recorded all time records on cab rides and tips made for the year even passing up new years." It appears that the cab drivers are not the only organization benefiting from the Sanford Center. Zach Wold, who is a Bartender at Toasty Beavers, also broke his record in tips for the year passing $1000 for weekend. As the re-development of the south shore continues, it will create new jobs and more attractions which will lure outside residents into Bemidji creating a positive economical impact. If the encouraging trend continues, the City of Bemidji will get what they paid for and that is jobs and more money. This project has been perceived to be risky, but if all goes well, the Sanford Center will have a positive impact on the economy and the residents of Bemidji.