First Arena

[Kevin 334]

I thought they had a couple buyers, but they wanted to maintain control of it after the sale so the buyers dropped out. I may be mistaken. 

[KarenK 354]

1 minute ago, Kevin said:

I thought they had a couple buyers, but they wanted to maintain control of it after the sale so the buyers dropped out. I may be mistaken. 

You may be right.  I only remember there being buyers but something to do with CC being involved. Not sure which.  lol

[Chris 1,914]

 

Nice way to leave the place. 

   

If there's that much mold in the place, there's no feasible way to completely get rid of it. Hell, I guarantee code enforcement wouldn't allow people to live in a private home with that kind of mold  problem!!!

Quote

Sheen stated that a study was conducted by Hunt Engineers in May and found that the costs to repair the arena would be $6-8 million.

Holy shit. Stop throwing good money after bad. Tear the thing down and turn it into a parking lot. It'd serve more purpose. 

[Hal 318]

Big surprise on the above pics … no ! 
And yep … tear down the damn thing , enough people have taken a bit of a taste off this particular teat over the years !! 

[Ann 218]

4 hours ago, Chris said:

 

Nice way to leave the place. 

   

If there's that much mold in the place, there's no feasible way to completely get rid of it. Hell, I guarantee code enforcement wouldn't allow people to live in a private home with that kind of mold  problem!!!

Holy shit. Stop throwing good money after bad. Tear the thing down and turn it into a parking lot. It'd serve more purpose. 

Tear it down and make lots available for sale.  Buyers would build to their specifications and needs hopefully bringing new businesses downtown.

[Kevin 334]

I am not sure when the pictures of the offices were taken, but I know they said Hunt did the inspection in May. So it was still occupied. 

[KarenK 354]

14 minutes ago, Kevin said:

I am not sure when the pictures of the offices were taken, but I know they said Hunt did the inspection in May. So it was still occupied. 

Personally I find that even more appalling if the space was occupied.  Disgusting.

[Kevin 334]

I wasn't defending it, I was just pointing out the time-line. 

[MsKreed 1,059]

When CAN-USA entered into the $125/month lease and agreed to pay to maintain and repair building systems, structure and premises....I don't think they were prohibited from having an inspection done to determine what type of costs that could entail. 

They should have been kicked out sooner for defaulting on the agreement. 

 

 LEASE AGREEMENT (found here) :

 

[Chris 1,914]

If as many people showed up to the games as there are trashing the county and professing support for Nichols on social media, the place would have been the success the Afrs and City Hall claimed it’d be.

[KarenK 354]

1 hour ago, Chris said:

If as many people showed up to the games as there are trashing the county and professing support for Nichols on social media, the place would have been the success the Afrs and City Hall claimed it’d be.

Armchair experts.  Have never been to a city or county meeting in their lives and all over FB trashing how they are doing things.

[Kevin 334]

I am just curious when it gets torn down how much of the bill will the county stick the city with? I know they stuck the city with a large portion of the construction bill. 

[Chris 1,914]

The initial cost of this project was $15.5 million. That's no secret, scores of newspaper articles exist saying so. To spend half of that amount to make a 20 year old building viable for continued use is completely stupid. 

I was thinking this morning about how, when this was all being proposed, people were presenting all the evidence that doing business with the Afrs was a huge mistake. And they were told to sit down and shut up. 

Well folks, at least now you get to say "I told you so."

[Elmira Telegram 285]

According to a recent WETM report, the cost of repairs and upgrades at First Arena are said to be much less than the $6-8 million the CCIDA said it would be:

 

At this point, what do you think of the situation? What should be done with the Arena?

 

[KarenK 354]

Maybe I need to read it again, I was on my phone at the time, but I'm still coming in at the $8m range give or take.  Someone on FB indicated that these repairs were landlord responsibility, not tenant and I tend to agree.   My thoughts are they should put it our for sale for whatever they can get, to a private company and get it off the city/county books.  Let the private owner do with it what they please.   If they can't find an owner by a set timeframe, then knock it down.

[MsKreed 1,059]

50 minutes ago, KarenK said:

Someone on FB indicated that these repairs were landlord responsibility, not tenant

I have to wonder if that person is basing it on what might typically be landlord vs tenant responsibility for a residential lease at a fair market rental rate.....instead of the actual bargain that Nichols negotiated with the CCIDA, accepting certain responsibilities in exchange for a price far below fair market.

For comparison: About the same $125/month that CAN-USA was paying for this multi-million dollar commercial facility, the rest of us could go down the block to Centertown Garage and rent four parking spaces for $120/month. 

When CAN-USA entered into the $125/month lease with CCIDA and agreed to pay to maintain and repair building systems, structure and premises....I doubt they were prohibited from having an inspection done to determine what type of costs that could entail. 

They should have been kicked out sooner for defaulting on the agreement. 

 

 LEASE AGREEMENT (found here) :

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by MsKreed

[Hal 318]

🤔” Reasonably good condition and repair and condition  “ .  Under a normal lease agreement would this not require a … okay strike that . Wouldn’t one expect to have some type of security deposit or arrangement? 
Interesting comparison , parking spaces to Arena , puts things into perspective MsKreed . 
I tend to side with Karen on this subject . Sell it privately, keep Municipal entities out of the mix altogether ,  cut off that cinder block necklace and maybe it won’t need tax dollar’s to keep it above water !  Or barring that fire up the big dozer ! 

[Adam 329]

If WETM bothered to actually look at the Hunt Engineering report, all items they found DO total close to 8 million dollars, seems as though they are trying to imply the County IDA was lying about the cost.. Problem is, if inly the "critical" items are addressed, any person with the finances to possibly purchase the building is going to see all the other items NOT addressed and either ask the County to fix them, or just walk/run away.

Hockey is not sustainable, nor the Circus/monster trucks, it does suck but its the facts...at 1.2million to demolish, i say do it and sell the blank slate to a developer(caveat; no more apartments).

If people of the City think its such a grand investment, instead of whining the County should foot the bill, they need to corner the Elmira "Mayor" and City Council, they got 28 million and gave themselves bonuses out of it; they obviously have money to burn.

Side note, the City should Also be funding the Federally Funded Health Center thats looking to come into the area as well, people seem to forget we Taxpayers are going to be on the hook for 160-180 million dollar sewer upgrade that many of us dont actually use(that often)

[Elmira Telegram 285]

In a press release today, the Chemung County Industrial Agency announced that the county has reached an agreement with a new tenant for First Arena. The release reads as follows:

"Chemung County Industrial Development Agency Approves First Arena Lease with Tadross Donner Sports and Entertainment, LLC

The Chemung County Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) has approved a lease with (TDSE), a sports and entertainment company, to operate First Arena effective immediately upon formal execution of the lease. The CCIDA and TDSE have agreed on a vision for the arena to transition to a multi-event arena featuring sports, concerts, comedy acts, family shows, and community events.

The principals of TDSE and its management team will be introduced in conjunction with the CCIDA at a formal press conference at First Arena on Wednesday, December 1st, 2021, at 1pm. TDSE will lay out the timeline of the arena re-opening and its plan to bring back pro hockey along with their sports and entertainment vision for the arena and Southern Tier Region.

Both parties have agreed to no further comments or interviews until the formal press conference on December 1st at First Arena."

A Google search for the LLC results in nothing, however an investigation by WETM revealed Rochester native Steve Donner is a Sports Business Consultant and former president, CEO and owner of several sports teams. Donner confirmed with WETM that he is one of the principals of the corporation, and that  the company was created specifically for the purposes of the lease agreement for First Arena.

[MsKreed 1,059]

 

This doesn't seem suspicious at all:

Quote

 

The Tuesday meeting came as a surprise announcement. The IDA had not given prior notice to the meeting, as required by the   New York State “Open Meetings Law” , which says that any meeting that is scheduled at least one week in advance must be publicly announced at least three days prior, and any other meetings must be publicly announced “at a reasonable time prior”.

Roman said a clerical error was to blame for the lack of notice given for the meeting.

 

 

[Chris 1,914]

Well this is definitely going to be interesting. 

[MsKreed 1,059]

At least they’re gracious enough to give a week’s notice for the press conference, since their clerical error prevented the proper notice for today’s public meeting.

I sure hope they are prepared to take questions at that time....even if it seems a bit patronizing to not offer details or invite public opinion until after the ink is dry.

[KarenK 354]

Oh the conspiracy theories out there on this.  LOL

[MsKreed 1,059]

Conspiracy? Meh....probably a strong term.

But certainly, a disappointing lack of transparency. 

All those who were happy they cut the cord with Nichols will be thrilled if the new lease requires the tenants to pay actual fair market rent and upkeep instead of the false promises of economic prosperity and unicorn farts that all the previous occupants offered up as payment.

We’ll still have all the Robbie fans that are furious his lease wasn’t renewed...but if we find they negotiated another $125/month steal of a deal and taxpayers stay on the hook for keeping the white elephant alive, then I think almost everyone would be dismayed.

[Elmira Telegram 285]

50 minutes ago, MsKreed said:

but if we find they negotiated another $125/month steal of a deal and taxpayers stay on the hook for keeping the white elephant alive, then I think almost everyone would be dismayed.

Place your bets!