(C) El Paso Matters.org This story was originally published by El Paso Matters.org and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Can the arena be scrapped? 10 things to know about the Downtown multipurpose center [1] ['Elida S. Perez', 'More Elida S. Perez', 'El Paso Matters'] Date: 2024-04-07 The future of the long-embattled multipurpose performing arts and entertainment center remains in limbo 12 years after being approved by voters – with the recent hurdle being City Council repeatedly postponing voting on a site on which to build it. The City Council has delayed voting on the proposed Union Depot site in Downtown since February. The council during Tuesday’s regular meeting has another opportunity to discuss and possibly vote on the site – the latest alternative after the previously approved site in the Duranguito neighborhood was voted down in January 2023 following years of litigation. The latest plan for the $180 million venue – the last signature bond project approved by voters in 2012 that’s yet to begin construction – calls for an amphitheater with a capacity for 4,000 indoor and 4,000 outdoor seats. The city has about $163 million left for the project after paying for engineering, property acquisition and a slew of studies over the years. City Rep. Brian Kennedy has said one option is for voters to decide the fate of the center. City officials declined to comment on the suggestion and process of scrapping the project. Joyce Wilson, who served as city manager in 2012 and headed the bond planning, said the City Council could ask voters to “de-obligate” the general obligation bond funds and cancel the project. “Using GO debt has its limitations and voter approval and you have to be really specific about the question (you ask voters),” said Wilson, who has spoken out against the Union Depot site. The Texas Government Code allows cities to order an election for voters to decide whether to “revoke bonds unsold for 10 years or more” after they were authorized. The code outlines specific steps for the revocation, including a petition by “tax paying voters.” Here are 10 key developments about the project over the past 12 years: In 2012, El Paso voters overwhelmingly approved building a $180 million multipurpose performing arts and entertainment center as part of a larger $473 million quality of life bond. The ballot did not specify a location, but the bond ordinance and public plans leading up to the election identified Downtown as the planned area. In 2016, the city issued a request for qualifications for “a mid-sized arena with a target capacity of 15,000 seats for basketball games.” That year, the city also proposed to build the project in the Duranguito neighborhood in Union Plaza Downtown. The Duranguito neighborhood is no longer the site of the city’s Downtown arena. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters) Choosing the Duranguito site prompted a yearslong legal battle in 2017 after the city filed a bond validation suit in Austin that year. Max Grossman, a University of Texas at El Paso art history professor who has been active in historic preservation efforts, was a respondent in the lawsuit. Grossman has argued that the buildings and land in Duranguito have historic value and should be preserved. The trial court ruled that the city was not authorized to use quality of life bonds to build a sports arena, but an appeals court ultimately ruled in the city’s favor in 2018. Grossman filed a separate lawsuit in 2019 funded by Houston preservationist J.P. Bryan. Several buildings in Duranguito were damaged in 2017 by demolition crews hired by the then-owners of some of the properties. The area was later fenced in and the damaged buildings remained neglected. Planning for the project remained stagnant during the years the litigation was being bounced around Texas courts. In November 2021, the City Council approved a cost assessment and to explore a possible settlement in the legal battle over the site. City officials have repeatedly said the original $180 million was never enough to complete the project. It was one of the first public discussions the City Council had on the project outside of executive session in as many years. In 2022, the city requested a new study to reimagine the project as an indoor-outdoor entertainment complex that could incorporate elements of the Duranguito neighborhood. The city hired the San Francisco-based M. Arthur Gensler & Associates, Inc. architectural firm for a feasibility study to determine the costs for the project, what type of venue should be built and whether it could incorporate existing neighborhood buildings. The firm was paid about $800,000. In January 2023, during its first meeting of the year with newly elected officials, the City Council suddenly scrapped the Duranguito site and called for an end to the ongoing litigation. In March, the city authorized paying the firm an additional amount of up to $25,000 to look at other possible sites for the venue. In October, the city reopened Chihuahua Street in the Duranguito site after securing some of the damaged buildings. The buildings remain fenced in. The city in October also began the process of selling the 18 properties that it purchased within the former arena project footprint and issued a request for information on possible buyers and developers of the former project site. The city also eased design and architectural guidelines in Union Plaza to allow for the construction of a variety of businesses, including a multipurpose center and arena. The city is looking at this site near Union Depot in Downtown El Paso as a site for a long-planned arena. 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