Nearly six years after it was revealed, plans to build a $180 million multi-purpose arena in downtown El Paso may be altered in favor of a new kind of public space venue.
What has officially been called the Multi-Purpose Cultural and Performing Arts Center ran into immediate pushback from preservationists and community activists in the fall of 2016 when it was announced that the facility would be built in the more than 100-year-old Duranguito neighborhood.
A series of lawsuits designed to stop the project ensued, with the one certain result being that the original price tag for the project has nearly doubled due to the increased cost of building materials, among other factors.
It is additionally thought that the city has spent nearly $3 million in legal expenses related to the project.
Now city officials are contemplating the building of a combination indoor/outdoor facility that would include parts of the Duranguito neighborhood.
In an interview with the publication El Paso Matters, city spokesperson Laura Cruz-Acosta noted that opponents of the arena plan “want to see those buildings as is.”
Cruz-Acosta added that city officials are exploring “other alternative options” for the site, before cautioning that nothing at this point chiseled in cement: “This is just a conversation in terms of how we get there.”
A Request for Qualifications was issued 6 weeks ago by the city asking for ideas on “the reimagining of the Multi-Purpose Cultural and Performing Arts Center from a one-use facility into a site development with various programs.”
An evaluation of the responses to that RFQ is currently underway.
By Garry Boulard
