Gary officials say they can no longer afford the subsidies they have to pay each year to maintain the Genesis Convention Center, the 7,000-seat arena at 5th Avenue and Broadway.
The Common Council on Tuesday introduced, then immediately approved, a resolution that says they “support the sale of the Genesis Convention Center to a private entity or a public/private venture with a qualified entry for the managing and funding” of the facility, which was built in 1974.
Over the years, the center has served as the home arena for a minor league basketball team, hosted a multitude of concerts, political conventions, local university commencements and funerals for fallen police officers and mayors.
Council President Ronald Brewer said the point of the resolution is to let entities that would be interested in operating an arena with attached meeting halls know that the city is interested in finding a partner.
“It wouldn’t be an outright sale right away,” Brewer said. “We’d like to start with a partnership in place to help us run the arena, with the possibility they could someday take over the facility.”
Supporting the idea was Councilman Herb Smith Jr., D-at large, who said the city needs help in operating a worthwhile convention facility. He said he does not think it would change daily operations insofar as Gary is concerned.
“We would get some help if we had a partner,” Smith said. “It could begin a process by which someone else could buy” the Genesis Center.
The resolution was approved by a 6-0 vote, with council members Ragen Hatcher, D-at large, Carolyn Rogers, D-4th, and Rebecca Wyatt, D-1st, absent from Tuesday’s session – the last one scheduled for 2017.
Despite his vote for the idea, Councilman Michael Protho, D-2nd, had concerns.
He said the Genesis Center is not the only facility that causes a financial drag on city government. He also cited the Hudson-Campbell Fitness Center and the USS Steel Yard ballpark used by the Gary SouthShore Railcats baseball club, and wondered if it would be possible to work out one deal by which all three facilities could be turned over to a private partner.
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Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, who said she supports finding an outside partner to take over the Genesis Center, said each has individual issues that would make it difficult to combine them into one package.
She said the Genesis Center is enough of a priority that it must be dealt with first, or else could face a situation where the city would have to shutter it. “If we don’t find a financial solution, we could end up with a closed facility,” Freeman-Wilson said. “That does nobody any good.”
This is not the first time Brewer has brought up private takeover of the Genesis Center. Last month, he publicly suggested trying to find someone such as the operators of the former Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville to see if they’d be interested in taking over the Gary facility.
Brewer on Tuesday emphasized that no one has come forth to the city to express interest in running the Genesis Center.
The council also approved an ordinance to ensure there will be enough money to meet the Genesis Center payroll in 2018.
The total budget for the facility is $905,875, of which there will have to be a $207,165 subsidy by the city – with money coming from Gary’s share of tax revenues from the Majestic Star Casino – slightly less than the $249,982 subsidy the city had to provide in 2017.
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.