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Many folks in the public assembly facility management field have extensive experience with the day-to-day management of various types of facilities, but far fewer of us have ever been involved with upgrading an existing facility or creating and developing a new venue or complex. This article will provide a broad overview of what is typically required when an entity decides to pursue development of a public assembly facility.

The title for this article came from my experience over the past three years as general manager of WestWorld of Scottsdale, a 160-acre equestrian and special events complex in Scottsdale, Arizona. One of the things that intrigued me about this opportunity was the City of Scottsdale’s desire to create a world-class facility. They realized that this facility would not only provide varied entertainment opportunities to their citizens, but would also bring people to Scottsdale, thus creating economic impact.

Being a high-end resort community, Scottsdale leaders understood the tourism industry and its economic benefits, but they admittedly didn’t know exactly what they wanted to do with WestWorld. Although the process we used here has proven to be successful, it certainly isn’t the only way to accomplish the planning and implementation of any new public assembly facility or complex. Variations of what is presented in this article may be more appropriate and acceptable in other locales.

Developing A Business Plan One of the first things that should be done when an entity decides to embark on upgrading or creating a new venue is to update or develop a business plan. This plan should determine the critical objectives of the development. It will serve as the financial, operational and strategic focus of the venue. It should also include a strategic plan, a vision, and a mission statement, and include some basic financial information about the facility. Additionally, the plan should be developed with the involvement of your constituents, which in our case were our citizens and facility users. These stakeholders can be your most ardent advocates (or detractors).

Developing A Master Plan Whether you desire to improve an existing venue or complex, or are starting a new one, it is imperative to have a master plan completed. The master plan will provide recommendations and guidelines for what is being proposed and will provide the blueprint for any future development for the next 10 to 15 years. The plan should support the vision and mission detailed in the business plan, and should also include specific recommendations and basic architectural plans of proposed facilities. Additional information typically included is the market research supporting the recommendations, anticipated economic impacts and projected construction and operational costs, design guidelines and conceptual renderings of what’s being proposed.

There are a number of excellent firms that provide these services, which can be secured by issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) soliciting bids from qualified architectural, design and engineering firms or teams.

Approval Process Each city and state has different requirements and statutes regarding development, but federal law requires many developments to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA requires that any proposed development, additions or improvements be analyzed for potential effects on the environment to include human, natural, and cultural resources. Because we are located on federal land, we were required to do an “Environmental Assessment” (EA), which studied and assessed the potential impact of additional traffic, noise, lights, and whether there were any culturally sensitive historical sites (e.g., Native American), that may be have been disturbed or affected.

Again, public review and comment is required, and typically any impact must be mitigated for the project to move forward. As in the preparation of the master plan, there are firms that can be retained to conduct this work. We were fortunate to receive a “Finding Of No Significant Impact” (FONSI) for our proposed development. Most cities and counties also have planning commissions and design review boards that must review and approve any proposed developments, with ultimate approval coming from their city council or county commission.

Funding There are numerous ways for these types of projects to be funded, but for the purposes of this article, I will only share what we considered for WestWorld. As soon as our city council approved the proposed master plan update, we formed a “Master Plan Funding Committee.” This committee consisted of representatives from the hospitality community, facility users and key city staff. The goal of this committee was to investigate various ways to fund the implementation of the plan, and deliver a recommendation to the city manager and city council for their consideration.

The committee considered the feasibility of selling revenue bonds, municipal public corporation bonds, implementing ticket surcharges and other ways to receive rebates from the hotels that benefit from the out-oftown guests that come to our events. (The committee also initially recommended taking the funding issue to the voters in a sales tax election to raise the sales tax by one percent, but ultimately decided not to pursue this option due to a public safety and land preservation election that would have competed with this issue.) Ultimately, the city decided to begin funding the improvements through the city’s annual capital improvement funds.

The city of Scottsdale is moving forward with the “Making of WestWorld.” Bids will be solicited from qualified architectural, design and engineering firms this summer to begin designing the proposed 115,000 square foot exhibit hall, with plans to begin construction the following year. The rest of the proposed plan is to be implemented over the next 10 years and includes enlarging and enclosing our arena, a new mini-amphitheater, doubling our barns and adding 400 RV spaces.

Brad Gessner, CFE, is general manager of WestWorld of Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Arizona. He may be reached at bgessner@scottsdaleaz.gov.

Does your facility’s board of directors inhibit your ability to explore new opportunities, develop new revenue streams, live up to industry standards, or better yet, be a leader in your marketplace? If so, you are not alone. Countless facilities nationwide, by and large publicly owned facilities, are struggling with many of the same challenges.

Though many boards of facilities are comprised of smart, respected leaders in their communities, most facilities have board members who have no event, entertainment, or sports industry experience (facility, landlord, production, marketing). Whereas they might enjoy success in their respective professional careers, it is somewhat infrequent that this experience translates to their role on the facility board.

It is just normal behavior that we tend to make decisions from our own personal and professional frames of reference. When we do not have the industry expertise and experience from which to address a certain challenge, issue or opportunity it makes it quite difficult to embrace a new way of thinking and implement the best solution.

Maximize Your Potential
Whereas almost every facility operates and manages all the basic, necessary functions of facility management, few have been able to maximize their potential. Whether it be in their rent structure, tenant marketing support, food and beverage sales, sponsorship partnerships, box office, endowment investments, etc., most facilities are stuck in low gear. Their boards see all these elements in play at their facility and assume they are doing just fine.

They don’t realize their potential for maximizing. They don’t know enough to direct, support, or teach staff to recognize, develop, and implement to successful industry standards, thus leaving hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars unrealized. Every facility and the city it represents could use the additional dollars these missed opportunities could realize, whether that money is put back into facility operations, upgrades, debt repayment, or even given back to the city for much needed city services.

It’s easy to see why boards (although they have the best of intentions) can inhibit their facilities for which they set policy from being able to identify opportunities and grow. The combination of the members having busy professional and personal lives, being volunteers, infrequently held meetings, reports that don’t tell the full story, and chasms in communications make it quite difficult to do anything but keep current operations moving forward. The mere thought of taking on growth or new opportunities rarely if ever makes it on the board’s agenda. Thus, by default, maintaining the status quo is often the best that can be anticipated.

The city fathers (politicians) who ultimately are responsible for making sure the best team of board members are overseeing their (public) facility themselves are victims of the same resumes and resources as their board members. They too don’t have the experience in which to take their facility to another level. They too have countless other issues on their daily to-do lists. And they too are hopeful that the board members to whom they delegated the responsibility of managing their city asset can optimize the facility on behalf of the city. Turning those goals into reality, however, is so often a different story.

Success In The Private Sector
In the San Francisco Bay Area (Northern California), there is a wide assortment of successful and less than successful facilities, ranging from theaters to stadiums. It is not surprising that the most successful are privately operated. These are the facilities that are able to have the most aggressive business plans, hire the best available executives, and are able to invest their time and expertise in developing and growing their facility. These facilities are not inhibited by the many challenges that public facilities experience.

One key for facilities that are frustrated treading water and unable to grow and move forward is to break out of the status quo. Try adding a few new board members who can add a fresh perspective and energy to the existing board.

As necessary and with respect, trim the ineffective from the board. Hire a professional industry consultant in your operational areas of need who can add an objective source of expertise and industry comparisons for your board to review and understand. With public facilities make sure that the city leaders (who own the facility) are aware of the standards your facility could achieve if only it had the all-star board who could deliver the right perspective and horsepower.

Rene Boisvert is president of Rainy Day Productions, an Allied Member based in Oakland, California, and can be reached at RBRDP@aol.com.

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