The thought of a huge arena occupying the lot where Erin O'Daniel's family
has sold cars since 1934 puts the Evansville businessman at a difficult
crossroads.
O'Daniel, the general manager of D-Patrick Ford, has strong personal ties to
the 500 Walnut St. property. His grandfather, Joe O'Daniel, bought the lot and
helped build a successful business there, one that Erin O'Daniel said still is
going strong today, tough economy and all.
But with an architectural firm eyeing the property as a potential spot for a
Downtown arena, O'Daniel said he also feels the need "to be a good corporate
citizen."
Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel said Wednesday that HOK is "keying on" three sites
- one that would include the D-Patrick Ford parking lot and possibly the
Executive Inn, the Civic Center parking lot and a site around the Old Greyhound
Bus station on Sycamore Street.
HOK is one of three companies the city hired to end the arena debate.
Weinzapfel said the companies will give a presentation to the Roberts Stadium
Advisory Board in a public meeting in two to three weeks.
Soon after that, Weinzapfel and other city leaders are expected to make a
decision on whether to replace the aging Roberts Stadium with a Downtown arena.
The sites were narrowed from a list of 11 locations suggested by Gateway
Consultants, one of the original consultants in the arena debate.
"Those are the ones that made the most sense from the perspective of
community development, traffic flow" and developable space, Weinzapfel said.
O'Daniel said he has not been contacted by HOK or the city about selling his
property. But if an offer comes, he'll listen.
"We always want to be supportive of the city," he said.
Here's a breakdown of the sites, starting with the D-Patrick Ford parking
lot:
This site involves two possibilities. The first is a combination of
Executive Inn and D-Patrick Ford. The site is bordered by Locust Street, King
Boulevard, Walnut Street and Fifth Street. The 4.6-acre site is assessed at $5.3
million. That figure doesn't include the cost of demolishing the Executive Inn,
which would need to be cleared to make room for an arena.
"A significant advantage of this site is the fact that it already has a
bridge system in place from a garage and into the convention center," according
to Gateway's site analysis. "Of particular importance is the bridge into the
convention center. Connecting the two facilities would allow for a cross
marketing of convention and conference space with arena-based activity."
The second possibility is the 6.9-acre D-Patrick parking lot, bordered by
Walnut Street, King Boulevard, Chestnut Street and Fourth Street. This site has
an assessed value of $3.8 million.
The Civic Center parking lot is an attractive site because the space
already is owned by the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Building Authority. With
more than 12 acres of space, there's also plenty of room for a 10,000-seat
arena, the size that Gateway recommended.
The added space provides "the building operator with options for
accommodating specific parking needs for the building," according to the
analysis. "A new arena at this location could have a strong urban presence at
the corner of Walnut and Ninth streets."
Two possibilities have been proposed at the Old Greyhound Bus station. The
first is 4.75 acres. It is bordered by Sycamore, Fourth, Vine and Second
streets. The city owns 17 of the 30 parcels in the area, which have a combined
assessed value of $1.9 million.
The Greyhound site is only a few blocks from Casino Aztar and is close to
Main Street, which has seen a resurgence of residential growth over the last
several years.
The second Greyhound site is 4.9 acres. It is bordered by Sycamore, Third,
Court and Second streets. This site has 30 separate parcels and, like the first
one, the city owns 17 of them. The total assessed value is $2.8 million.
"The Greyhound site, in this version, is architecturally more interesting,
because the current bus station could be configured into the arena as an iconic
architectural feature," according to the analysis. The station could be
converted into a ticket office, retail store, gift shop, dining area or serve as
an "iconic entry" into the arena.
The cost of a 10,000-seat arena has been estimated at about $92 million. In
addition to recommending a location, the consultants also will present a
proposal of how to fund an arena.
A date has not been set for the Advisory Board meeting, but board President
Wayne Henning said the consultants originally had a Dec. 15 deadline to present
a report.
Henning said he's eager to finish the stadium debate.
"It is complicated," he said of the more than yearlong process of board
meetings, 100-plus page reports and presentations. "It was complicated 55 years
ago for H.O. Roberts, and it's complicated today."
Henry O. "Hank" Roberts was the mayor in 1951 who began pushing the idea of
building an events facility in Evansville that would put the city at the
forefront of college athletics and entertainment. And for a period of time, it
certainly did.
But by Dec. 1, 1956, the day Roberts Stadium was dedicated, Roberts was no
longer in office. He was defeated a year earlier in the Republican primary for
mayor, a loss some attribute to the building that to this day bears his
name.