The Glens Falls Civic Center, for sale for the past several months, has a new owner.
On Tuesday evening, the Glens Falls Common Council awarded the Coalition to Save Our Civic Center the publicly-owned arena on its $600,000 bid.
The longtime home to minor league hockey, high school basketball tournaments, and concerts will now be owned by the Coalition, a group of local business people, under a five-year lease-purchase agreement.
Coalition member Ed Moore …
“We feel that we are here for the people, it’s a community backed thing, people have given up their own personal moneys with nothing to gain other than the good of our region, and that’s what we’re about.”
Moore said the Coalition presented the city with a $60,000 deposit, and aims to put forward $400,000 by June. He said the balance would be paid over the next couple years.
After the city-owned arena failed to find a bidder at a public auction in August, the Coalition was formed and has since raised around $700,000 in donations with a goal of operating the center.
Under terms set by the city, the new owner would have to honor the contracts of the Adirondack Flames, Glens Falls’ new American Hockey League team, and manager Global Spectrum.
Another bidder, Adirondack Sports and Entertainment, had sought to purchase the property to operate a youth hockey academy.
Moore said the Coalition will now work to establish a board to run the Civic Center and to bring the aging arena out of debt.
“This is going to be a board, it’s no one person here. It’s a group of business people, men and women, for the good of this community, and to run this Civic Center in the same way it was run years ago.”
Moore said the Coalition hopes to use state grant funding help pay for upgrades to the facility, and also get support from Warren County.
Kevin McCloskey, of Adirondack Sports and Entertainment, which reportedly bid $800,000, said was he disappointed by the city’s decision.
“We would have added 160 days of revenue a year there, that’s why we’re disappointed too, and quite frankly disappointed the city didn’t want that.”
McCloskey doubts the 4,794-seat arena built in 1979 can remain host to American League Hockey in the long term.
“That’s going to be a difficult venue to replace an American Hockey League team in. There will be other venues that are for more updated, much newer, that would be more attractive if an American Hockey League team was trying to relocate.”
Adirondack Flames CEO Brian Petrovek, a Coalition member, said he had some preliminary conversations before Tuesday’s Common Council meeting with McCloskey and partner Phil Pulley about whether it would be possible to have more dialogue about future collaboration.
“Their interests were similar to the Coalition’s, to have complete control of the assets, but now that that’s not the case, there may be an opportunity to have both parties collaborate in some way, but we’ll have to see.” “
Kevin McCloskey…
“We had a meaningful discussion, but it was more of a feeling out process to see where they were at and what have you.”
Glens Falls mayor Jack Diamond’s office did not return a call for comment Wednesday morning.
