Escambia County Commissioners are considering a major overhaul of the aging Pensacola Bay Center, with potential plans that could include significant renovations and possibly an adjacent event center.
Doug Thornton, President of North American Venues for ASM Global, presented renovation concepts with a price tag of approximately $47 million for the Bay Center improvements, with potential additional costs for an adjacent event center. If given the contract extension, the company offered to fund up to $200,000 for feasibility and design studies.
- Commissioner Steven Barry suggested modifying the agreement language to simply state that ASM would provide the studies rather than specifying a dollar amount.
Current Improvements
The current $10 million in Tourist Development Tax funding approved last year is primarily addressing deferred maintenance issues, including a new ice plant, ice floor, retractable seating, parking lot repaving, improved fencing, and sound and lighting upgrades. These improvements are expected to be completed by September.
Bay Center manager Michael Capps highlighted the facility’s improved financial performance, with the operating subsidy reduced from pre-COVID levels. He noted increasing revenues from events and food and beverage sales, with hockey games now generating between $40,000-$50,000 per game compared to $10,000 in 2020.
Why This Matters: Commissioner Lumon May emphasized the Bay Center’s importance beyond tourism, calling it a “quality of life venue” for the community. He suggested involving other stakeholders, including the City of Pensacola, Escambia County School Board, and other possible partners.
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- “If people are going to have input, they have to have input with dollars,” May said. “It should be a universal center that’s being used all the time. From graduations to high school games to all-star games, those types of things would provide a great quality of life for the citizens of Escambia County.”
Chairman Mike Kohler expressed frustration with the lack of progress in updating the facility over the past 25 years. “If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less,” Kohler said, quoting General Shinseki. “If we don’t do some change here, we’re going to be irrelevant in this market.”
Key Questions
Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger raised questions about the potential for a second ice sheet and whether the facility could effectively serve as both a convention center and sports venue. She also inquired about naming rights opportunities for the facility.
Commissioner Barry noted that while the ice hockey community has lobbied hard for additional ice time, “asking a lot doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s what you get just because you ask a lot.”
Major, Not Minor Improvements: Commissioners May and Stroberger were adamant any improvement made should be significant and long-lastering.
- “I don’t think our goal is to spend as little as we can,” said Stroberger. “I think we want to need something that’s going to last. And I think we’ve seen lots of examples of where we probably underspent when we were expecting growth… where we just did a poor job designing and producing something we can do better.”
- May added, “Let’s shoot for the stars and figure out how to pay for it once we get what the desires of the community are. I mean, we’re trying to buy a Mercedes. We’re trying to get the top of the line. So let’s figure out what we want, what we need, and then let’s figure out how to finance it.”
Stakeholder Input
Several stakeholders addressed the Commission, including Ray Palmer of Pensacola Sports, Ice Flyers owner Greg Harris, and Visit Pensacola CEO Darien Schaefer.
Schaefer strongly advocated for conference space, noting that Visit Pensacola has identified 280 potential pieces of business interested in coming to Pensacola but unable to do so due to lack of adequate facilities.
- “Seventy-five of that business needs 100,000 square feet or less. 35% of that needs 50,000 square feet or less,” Schaefer explained. “There are people that are flying into Pensacola that then go to Mobile or they’re going over to Orange Beach or they’re going to Destin.”
Next Steps
The Commission directed staff to prepare an addendum to ASM Global’s contract extension that includes the provision of updated feasibility and design studies. The revised agreement will be presented at the second Commission meeting in March.
“I think we’re going to move forward in a very timely manner,” Kohler concluded. “There’s not a cheaper time to build than today.”