Cleanup from the Arena/Convention Center/entertainment board meeting this a.m.

Couple of notes from the arena/convention center/entertainment board meeting this morning (pdf of agenda):

  • SMG manager Terry Torkildson went into a bit more detail about how construction on the events center is coming along. (Administration officials gave their bimonthly update to the City Council yesterday.) The suite designs are now final, Torkildson said, and they’re now working on selecting bathroom fixtures, finishings and technology (sound systems, etc.). They’ve chosen the coloring for the basketball court floor, a light wood stain with dark-stain accents. (The original plan called for a burgundy-and-gold scheme that made the floor look too much like the University of Minnesota court.) On the exterior, crews should begin putting up the steel framework any day now, Torkildson said.
  • Speaking of the events center: Teri Schmidt, executive director of the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau, said event planners have been prodding city and tourism officials for a firmer opening date. Right now the city line is that it will be open sometime fall 2014, but “most groups don’t want to be the guinea pig,” Schmidt said. Torkildson said they’ll have a better idea of an opening date once they get through the current bid package.
  • There was some general discussion about HB1088, which would have kept SDHSAA events in smaller cities. The Sioux Falls lobbying delegation decided not to formally oppose it, assuming that this would fan the flames, but as it turns out they needn’t have worried: the bill went down this morning.
  • Finance director Tracy Turbak was at the meeting as the new city liaison, as oversight for the SMG contracts has moved from planning and building over to finance.
  • The agenda said staff would present 2012 financial reports for the Arena/Convention Center, but Torkildson said their accounting person has been out, so those reports aren’t ready yet.
  • Monster trucks this weekend. My 4-year-old is going to absolutely plotz.

Tags: arena convention center events center