If you scour through the studies on the new arena's website, you will notice that the main study performed for the city focused on cities our size and what they did with their venues. One of the cities that sticks out is Corpus Christi, Texas.
In 2004, Corpus Christi opened up American Bank Center. Although it only has a capacity of 8,156 for a city with 305,215, the new arena is able to host many functions in Corpus Christi whether it's meetings and conventions, trade shows and exhibitions, live performances and sporting events, the Corpus Christi IceRays Tier II Jr. A ice hockey team, the Corpus Christi Hammerheads Indoor Football Team, or the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Islanders Men's and Women's NCAA Basketball teams.
On the flip side of this development was Corpus Christi's Memorial Coliseum.
Located on the bayfront in Corpus Christi, Texas, Memorial Coliseum was dedicated on September 26, 1954 to 400 men and women who gave their lives in World War II. The dedication was sponsored by the Gold Star Mothers of Texas and was attended by local, state and military officials. The architect of Memorial Coliseum, Richard S. Colley, is Corpus Christi's local star in the world of architecture.
Memorial Coliseum was an architecturally significant building of Mid-Century modern style. Extremely well constructed, its footings are anchored into the original seabed, well below the 1940s fill. The curved roof contains 260 tons of structural steel in a lamella space frame (diamond shape design) with a thin concrete cover. This strong, yet light roof structure allowed for the barrel-shaped 224-foot unsupported span, which was the world’s longest when it was built. As an additional plus factor, this kind of construction keeps insurance costs low and maintenance over 40 years is lower than in traditional buildings.
Colley's Coliseum design began attracting the attention of the national architectural community even before it was built. In January 1952, the ‘auditorium plan’ (Coliseum and Exposition Hall) was awarded the annual jury prize by Progressive Architecture for being “the most noteworthy submission among buildings for public use.” The entire complex (Coliseum, Exposition Hall and City Hall) were featured in a 16-page article in February 1953 issue of Progressive Architecture which included photographs, floor plans and construction details.
In 1954, during the final construction phase of the Coliseum, Progressive Architecture featured the building again. Its lamella roof was pictured on the magazine’s cover and the related article discussed the design of the auditorium and included several photos of the building under construction.
In 1955, Memorial Coliseum was included in the “Building and Construction” section of the Encyclopedia Britannica Book-of-the-Year.
In 1958, the Coliseum was photographed for the Carnegie Study of the Arts of the United States by photographer John Waggaman. It was chosen because of its “significance in the history of American Architecture” and for its “successful merger of beauty and functionality.” A photograph of Memorial Coliseum was also displayed in the United States pavilion at Expo 58, the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair.
Both the unusual design and the innovative construction methods of Memorial Coliseum were featured in Engineering News-Record, Architectural Forum, United States Steel trade magazine, Time magazine, Architectural Record, Welding Arcs, L’architecture d’aujourd’hui (France), Techniques et Architecture (France) and Informes de la Construccion (Spain), just to name a few.
The fate of Memorial Coliseum came into question when Corpus Christi opened the new American Bank Center in the fall of 2004 taking all of Memorial Coliseum's tenants. After 5 years of tossing ideas and strategies around, the city considered five different proposals in 2009...
http://www.caller.com/news/2009/aug/08/five-plans-for-development-n-goal-is-to-break/
After a few months of deliberation, National Swimming Center Corp. was chosen as the winning proposal. Things were looking up as Memorial Coliseum was going to be converted into a swimming center used to house USA Swimming events. But then in 2010, it became apparent that National Swimming Center Corp. wasn't going to be able to secure the funding to build the hotel around the complex much less renovate the building itself.
A battle ensued between local preservation groups and Corpus Christi's city hall to either save or demolish the building. Local preservation groups introduced many great proposals with one proposal calling for only the historic roof being left intact as a memorial to the veterans it was built for. But in the end, city hall was victorious and demolition work started on Memorial Coliseum on June 30th, 2010. Even worse, the demolition just finished up this month...
http://www.caller.com/news/2011/apr/26/corpus-christi-council-votes-against-spending-more/
http://www.caller.com/news/2011/may/02/memorial-coliseum-site-to-be-complete-in-a-week/
Here are two great videos put on by the group dedicated to saving Memorial Coliseum that I think speaks volumes about the mistake Corpus Christi made when they demolished Memorial Coliseum...
The scariest part about the whole Corpus Christi Memorial Coliseum debacle is that local officials here in Evansville have taken notice of what has been going on and want to replicate it here in Evansville...
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/jul/20/one-citysstadiumsolution/
"My strong suggestion to any community that's going to build an arena like this, that they not try to cut corners and come up with something that's going to cause them more problems than necessary," Garrett said.We've done made the mistake of demolishing the Big E and building an arena too small to go after NCAA tournaments. Let's not compound these mistakes by demolishing Roberts Stadium and ending up with having to expound several thousand dollars on irrigated sod grass like Corpus Christi is doing.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/jul/20/with-replacement-venue-built-city-ponders-fate/
"The 5,400-seat coliseum has sentimental value among many longtime Corpus Christi residents.
It was designed by a well-known local architect, Richard Colley, and is a memorial to World War II veterans.
It has hosted famous musicians such as Elvis Presley and has withstood hurricane-force winds.
"It's indestructible," Hummell said. "There's a lot of concrete and steel. There's no way we can build something like that down there. It would be cost prohibitive. So it's going to be a lot better to try and renovate.""
Yet Corpus Christi's city hall ignored their historic memorial to their veterans that was fully capable of being renovated and chose to demolish it. Why do we want to be like Corpus Christi?
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/jul/21/defining-success/
"The one thing that you've got to take into consideration is the multiplier effect that happens when you have an event at a venue like an arena," he said. "That is you've got people coming to your city, not only buying the tickets, but they're also drinking and eating and spending an extra night in your city."
Exactly! So why don't we raise the floor up at Roberts Stadium and let it serve mid-sized events such as indoor football, indoor soccer, minor league basketball, mid-sized concerts, and youth basketball and soccer tournaments?
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/aug/22/lessons-from-an-old-texas-arena/?partner=RSS
"Roberts may be "perfectly good," but someone has to pay to heat it in winter, cool it in summer, maintain the roof and keep it secure. Maintenance costs for old buildings can't be carried on the books forever."The Old Post Office, the Old Greyhound Bus Station, the Old Courthouse, and the Soldiers & Sailors Coliseum have all stood the test of time and are still producing for Evansville as we speak. There's no reason at all that Roberts Stadium cannot do the same.
"For those who suggest that Roberts be maintained or renovated as an events center, the factors that led to the decision to build new instead of renovate Roberts remain: The arena floor is below the water table and the building needs to be upgraded to be fully accessible to the disabled."We don't need to renovate Roberts Stadium into a premier arena. Now that the new arena is being built it's clear as day that Roberts Stadium needs to be a mid-sized arena. If we simply raise the floor back up (which is cheaper than demolition), the whole water table issue is gone. Period. And if we raise the floor, we will be in compliance with the ADA.
"Ballfields or no ballfields, a solution must be found. It will not be prudent or practical for the city of Evansville to continue to maintain and operate Roberts Stadium."Roberts Stadium has done more for this community and will do more for this community than Dunn's ball fields plan ever could do. You want youth sports? Let's start with Roberts Stadium!
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/sep/05/visitors-bureau-addresses-ballpark-plan/
"Roberts Stadium will be vacant by the end of 2011. If The Park plan is not approved, it will cost property taxpayers an estimated $500,000 a year to maintain that vacant property, or more than $1 million to tear it down.Interestingly enough, only David Dunn estimated the moth ball costs to be $500,000. We've heard $280,000, $300,000, and $400,000. We also heard from Dunn himself that maintenance costs on the ball fields were going to range from $300,000-$500,000. Who knows why we would want to demolish Roberts Stadium and build something dull and boring that will cost more to maintain. One thing we do know: They're just making up these costs to scare you into wanting to demolish Roberts Stadium.
In an August 22, 2010, column in this newspaper, Courier & Press Editor Mizell Stewart III wrote of the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, spending $800,000 in tax dollars to tear down its old stadium after it sat vacant for more than six years and fell into disrepair. The Park plan offers an opportunity to avoid that scenario here."
In regards to the demolition costs, as evidenced in the article above, demolition was a terrible and expensive task for Corpus Christi. So why in the world would we want to replicate that here? Dunn just made my argument for me especially given the testimony from Corpus Christi that Memorial Coliseum was healthy (injured but healthy nonetheless). In 2008, HNTB did not find one thing wrong with Roberts Stadium's structure largely due to the fact that it was renovated in the 1990s. Why pay $1-$2 million to demolish something we just stuck over $1.5 million into?
Overall, I think these are the real things we need to learn from the Corpus Christi situation...
1. City hall needs to listen to the people. The majority of people wanted the coliseum to stay. City hall ignored them and now no one is happy.
2. Make sure you get a good developer. Corpus Christi claims that they tried everything, but if you read the articles and watched the videos you will see that there were at least 4-5 viable plans that were ignored in favor of National Swim Corp. who has, at best, a shady past....
http://www.statesman.com/business/swim-center-drawing-skepticism-in-florida-621668.html
The last thing we need is for our city government to choose a plan that is dead from the start because the city doesn't want to spend the money, the developer doesn't have the money, or neither really intended to go through with the plan, they just wanted to make it look like they gave an effort. We seen that with the Big E, let's not go through that again with Roberts Stadium.
3. Don't mistake time for effort. Corpus Christi's government claims they tried everything but in reality they just let it sit there for years upon years and blamed it on lack of proposals when several groups were working on viable plans. Let's not let our government ignore Roberts Stadium just so they can tear it down later.
4. Demolition is a zero-sum game. Corpus Christi thought they were saving money by tearing down Memorial Coliseum but they didn't. Demolition costs ended up getting out of control while demolition took almost a year to complete. After all the legal fights between the city and the demolition company, they finally cleared the land but now are on the hook for water irrigation pipes and sod which will require maintenance workers. Do we really want our Parks Departments to have one more park to have to maintain when it'll be just the basics and almost the same costs as Roberts Stadium?
5. Don't spit in the face of history. Memorial Coliseum was a memorial monument to all of Corpus Christi's veterans but now they have no building to be remembered. While Roberts Stadium is not dedicated to our veterans (thankfully we still have Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Coliseum), it still is a monument to all of the hard work and dedication given to us by Hank Roberts and Ralph Legeman. Let's make sure they continue to have this building in their honor.
The thing that baffles me about our local leaders is that they continue to pick bad cases such as this one to replicate. In the study for the new arena, both Toledo, Ohio (which I will be talking about in a few days) and Corpus Christi, Texas were chosen as cities to study. Why? Why do we want to be like a city that built a smaller arena, demolished a historical memorial, and left the arena site empty after battling with the demolition company when many alternatives were not studied despite what their city hall says?
If we are ever going to make progress here in Evansville, we have to take two steps forward instead of one forward, one backward. Let's not be like Corpus Christi, let's SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!
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