Update on Pocatello Chubbuck events center
The Pocatello/Chubbuck Auditorium District is continuing to work on an events center, but is experiencing a delay due to need for another feasibility study.
The last feasibility study was done in 2010. Investors are worried the last five years may have seen needs change for an events center, so the auditorium district is doing a new study.
“Our hope is that by early spring, late spring at the latest,” said Raul Cano, executive director of the Auditorium District, “we’re able to start construction and get this thing up and running.”
But first they need to get the financing. Cano said they have the money to purchase the land now, paid for through the hotel tax. That tax comes when folks stay in local hotels, then a portion of their money goes to the Auditorium District.
“We’ve actually spent about $500,000 on this project at this point,” said Cano. “We’ve had the soil tested and we’ve some other things, including consultants and attorneys and those types of things to get us to this point.”
The events center will have a 28,000-square-foot gym, called an open span area, along with a few basic medical areas for sports teams. They are planning seating for over 2,000 people and 400 parking spaces.
“We’re excited. It’s been quite the project and the ordeal for us to be able to go through this,” Cano said, “but it’s really been a learning experience for us.”
The feasibility study is set to be completed in about a month. From there, the Auditorium District will present the need to financial institutions to get investors and bids on the project.
