City To Back Pavilion

Mayor To Ask For $500,000 For Infrastructure Improvements

ROGERS — Mayor Greg Hines will ask aldermen to give the green light for the city to spend up to $500,000 in infrastructure improvement around the Arkansas Music Pavilion stie scheduled to open next year in Rogers.

“The city did much the same thing when the John Q. Hammons Center announced it was locating in Rogers,” Hines said.

Steve Womack was mayor when the Hammons Center opened in 2007. The city pledged $500,000 in infrastructure improvement, said Hines, who was an alderman at the time.

“As I recall, we were still in the old City Hall on Poplar Street when the council approved a resolution. A couple of years later, the ordinance approving the expenditure of the money for the improvements around the Hammons Center was approved,” Hines said.

At A Glance

Arkansas Music Pavilion

The Arkansas Music Pavilion opened at the Northwest Arkansas Mall parking lot in 2005 before moving to the Washington County Fairgrounds in 2012. It's operated by the Walton Arts Center board, which discussed the need for a new site for the facility for more than a year.

Source: Staff Report

The $500,000 pledge was approved in July 2003 for improvements, which included a parking lot, according to city documents.

Jerry Hudlow, Rogers finance director at the time, said Wednesday he remembers the money being used to build a public parking lot adjacent to the Hammons Center that could be used by all the businesses, shops and restaurants in the area.

The Embassy Suites Hotel and John Q. Hammons Center attract thousands of visitors to Northwest Arkansas every year, said David Lang, general manager of the 125,000-square-foot complex, which has 80,000 square feet dedicated to conference space.

“We have three and four events going on at the Hammons Center every day. Since the complex opened in July 2007, we had several million people through the doors,” Lang said.

Lang said he is excited about having the pavilion next door to the hotel and conference center.

“It will mean more growth and economic development in the area,” he said.

The infrastructure improvement could include a parking lot, sidewalks and trails, Hines said.

“Until the facility is designed, we don’t know what we might be able to do in the way of infrastructure. I have also offered some in-kind help where we use city crews and machinery to make improvements around the AMP,” Hines said.

The $11 million pavilion will be built on land donated by Johnelle Hunt, south of the Embassy Suites Hotel.

“Moving the AMP to Rogers will definitely have an impact of sales tax revenue,” said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Sam Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

“I haven’t seen any numbers, but I think the relocation of the AMP will be good not only for Rogers, but for the region,” Deck said. “This music venue will be a more permanent structure with more amenities, which is an improvement for the region.”

“I think having the AMP in Rogers is going to be great,” said Travis Greene, a Rogers resident.

“For years we had to drive to Fayetteville for any kind of entertainment. Having the AMP here is likely to bring in new businesses and possibly be the beginning of an entertainment center in Rogers,” Greene said.

Greene said the city spending up to $500,000 for improvement around the pavilion is probably a good idea.

“When you consider how the AMP will bring in more sales tax revenue and could be the beginning of an entertainment center in this area, I guess I can support the city pledging $500,000 in improvements, although I would like to see some solid figures at some point,” Greene said.

Hines said he thinks the pavilion moving to Rogers is going to make a big difference in the area in the next few years.

“I’m excited about the AMP moving to Rogers. This a going to be an $11 million facility that will attract more people to the area. I haven’t seen any return on investment figures at this point, but I would say we will recover the $500,000 in just a couple of years,” Hines said.

The city's street plan includes improvement to 28th Place on the west side of Interstate 540 scheduled for design this year. Widening of 28th Place would be an advantage for people attending a concert at the pavilion and would connect three east-west streets crossing the interstate, city officials said.

“We are getting federal money for the widening of 28th Place from Pleasant Grove Road to Bellview Road and finally connecting to Pauline Whitaker Parkway,” said Steve Glass, city planning and transportation director.

The 28th Place improvements have been on the street plan for a number of years, Glass said.

“We just got the word this year the government was funding the design phase of the improvements. The contract for construction could be awarded as early as 2015, but there is no guarantee,” Glass said.

Widening 28th Place would be beneficial to traffic flow in and around Pinnacle Hills Promenade and the pavilion, Glass said.

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