ROANOKE, VA (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Global Spectrum is negotiating with the City of Roanoke over a five-year lease to manage the Roanoke Civic Center.
According to the Roanoke Times, Assistant City Manager Jim Grigsby said that a selection committee had picked Global Spectrum from the five firms that had responded to the city's request for bids to operate the civic center.
Roanoke is looking into private facility management in part to shed the burden of the facility's fiscal burden on taxpayers. Between the loss of minor league basketball and indoor football teams, and debt service, the city has been coughing up $1-3 million annually to support the venue. Global Spectrum has put forth a plan that they claim will eliminate the need for a public subsidy within the span of a few years.
"We'll have to support the civic center as we have been, but that subsidy will decrease to nothing and be a positive balance within five years in all the scenarios I've heard," Councilman David Trinkle told the Roanoke Times.
Negotiations with Global Spectrum are underway and the city expects to hold public hearings and conduct a city council vote on the matter within 45 days. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
