[0:02] Good morning.
>> Welcome to the Mesa City Council study
[0:07] session for August 13, 2026. Mayor
Freeman is out of town and is excused.
[0:13] All other council members are present,
although Council Member Heredia is
[0:19] attending by Zoom. I don't see him on
yet.
[0:21] » Okay. So, Council Member Heredia is
running a few minutes behind, so we'll
[0:26] just note when he uh he calls in.
Item number one is to review the agenda
[0:32] we have for our Monday, August 17th
council meeting. Let's go through that
[0:35] agenda if council has any questions.
Mr. Butler, I know we have presentation
[0:41] set for 5 A and 5B.
>> We do.
[0:43] » Yeah. Okay. So, we'll skip 5 A and 5B
for now. Does anybody have any questions
[0:49] or comments on the remainder of the
agenda?
[0:55] Seeing none, why don't we start with 5A?
All right. So, staff have come up and uh
[1:03] vice mayor, council, we're uh really
excited we're we've made it to this day
[1:07] where we're bringing um contract forward
for your consideration with Legends
[1:12] Global uh for management of the
convention center. And I know u this is
[1:18] one uh opportunity that we had discussed
um as sets the stage for bringing in uh
[1:26] all the types of uh hospitality and uh
maximizing the use of the convention
[1:33] center in in ways that um we as an
independent operator were not uh able to
[1:40] do. And so um so we're really glad that
we've after a competitive process gotten
[1:45] to this point for your consideration.
I'll turn it over to Candace and she can
[1:49] walk you through everything that's led
us to this point.
[1:53] » Good mayor, good morning uh vice mayor
and council. Um I Candace Candace,
[1:58] deputy city manager, and I'd like to um
introduce the team that we have up here
[2:02] with us today. So to my right is uh Brad
Gnner. He is our consultant that we used
[2:06] on this particular project since this is
the first time we've looked into this
[2:10] type of a public private partnership. He
is a a former senior vice president of
[2:15] AEG
um global previously and about and
[2:19] decades of experience in this industry.
So we were very help um glad to have him
[2:23] on this project. Uh to my left we have
uh Harry K. He is the senior vice
[2:29] president of business development for
Legends Global, which is the contractor
[2:33] we are proposing to enter into an
agreement with. Um, and to his left is
[2:37] Tyler Oin. You, some of you may have
remembered him from last year. So, he uh
[2:42] is with CSL. CSL did the feasibility
study for us um when we were looking at
[2:46] what improvements we would need to
modernize the convention center in the
[2:49] amphitheater. And so, he presented to
you last March of 20 um 25. Um so with
[2:56] that we will start into the
presentation.
[2:59] » All right. And council member Heredia is
online.
[3:01] » Okay.
>> Great. Um this just gives an overview.
[3:04] What we're talking about here is the
Mesa Convention Center and the Mesa
[3:07] Amphitheater. It is all on one campus um
situated near center and university.
[3:13] This is kind of an overview of that.
Also gives an overview of the timeline.
[3:17] So we did put out a request for
proposals um back in February. uh we've
[3:22] worked through that over this last uh
over the spring and into into summer.
[3:26] Now we had the top two proposals come in
and give presentations to staff so we
[3:30] could ask them questions about their
management style and how this particular
[3:33] type of partnership works. Um we are
here now proposing to enter into a
[3:38] contract with Legends Global who was the
the top proposal.
[3:43] Why are we why are we going into this?
This is a public private partnership and
[3:47] I want to explain that a little bit in
the fact that the city will still retain
[3:51] the ownership of all of the facilities.
Um we still fund the operations of this.
[3:57] So this part of it doesn't change. The
part of it is coming in with a partner
[4:01] who has industry specialty and expertise
to come in and do the actual management.
[4:05] Um that management doesn't mean just the
daily management but also where we have
[4:09] access to now their network. So they're
an international company. um they have
[4:13] access to acts and other other entities
and um contracts and so forth and so
[4:18] that can really bring that to it. They'd
be coming in with strategic management.
[4:22] Where do we want to go with this campus?
Where do we want to go with these
[4:24] facilities? Um they would take over the
daily operations of it, meaning it would
[4:28] be their employees [clears throat] who
actually work on this site. They would
[4:31] be responsible for the marketing and
advertising um for any type of sales,
[4:35] ticketing, rentals, um everything that
we currently do today. And then we all
[4:40] they also bring with them um because CSL
is an affiliate organization with
[4:44] Legends Global, they bring that
expertise that we already tapped into
[4:48] last year, which is what do we need to
modernize, what do we need to monetize,
[4:52] um what type of capital improvements
would we need to make, how do we really
[4:56] put a a strategic plan around this
particular campus and what we want to
[5:00] see out of it for our downtown and for
our residents.
[5:04] This is just gives you an overview and I
apologize this should be intent of
[5:08] management contract not contracted. Um
but these just gives you a highle view
[5:13] of what we requested as part of our of
the proposals we were looking for and
[5:17] what we were judging the proposals on.
Could they develop and deliver these
[5:22] particular things? We want to continue
to hive have and elevate um the quality
[5:26] of experiences and the event management
we have there. We want to maximize that
[5:31] utilization. how how can we best
maximize that? Are there capital
[5:35] improvements that we can make that would
allow us to extend our season for
[5:38] example at the amphitheater uh when we
know that it gets pretty hot in the in
[5:41] the summer. Um what is the economic
impact? How can we use this campus to
[5:46] drive people into our downtown? How do
we get them here and then get them into
[5:50] our onto our main street and into our
our shops and our hotels?
[5:54] Also, how do we boost our our
effectiveness with all of the other
[5:57] partners that we already have here in
downtown? that includes the visit Mesa,
[6:01] downtown Mesa Association
and the local hotels that we have here
[6:06] and how do we pull that together and
also integrating as we continue to work
[6:09] on our downtown arts and innovation
district. How do we amplify that? Um,
[6:14] and so that we're all working together.
So, those were the things that we asked
[6:17] for when we went out for proposals is
how could you help us with this?
[6:23] » Uh, yeah. Yeah, please.
>> On that slide, um, this is for fun. Is
[6:29] that the Weezer concert? [laughter]
>> I'm pretty sure it is. I just want
[6:33] everyone know exactly which concert.
>> I went to that concert and it was
[6:37] awesome.
>> Berg has confirmed it is it is Weezer.
[6:41] So
>> good. Vice Council member Taylor, you
[6:44] have very good eyes. If [laughter] you
can see who's on stage there. Um
[6:49] [clears throat]
>> it was awesome. It was like Christmas
[6:51] Weezer. Who says no to that? So anyway,
[laughter]
[6:53] just wanted to throw that out there.
>> And I'm glad you enjoyed that.
[6:58] I know.
>> As we move forward, one of the things as
[7:02] we really kind of talk about what does
this partnership look like and what does
[7:05] this partnership mean? Um, again, the
city of Mesa continues to hold the
[7:10] ownership of the campus. So, it is our
campus, it is our facilities. We will
[7:14] also continue to fund the operations.
So, this is not like so it's not similar
[7:20] to the golf course when we did that
where they actually run the entire golf
[7:24] course for us. Um but it's their
operation that they're running. This is
[7:28] still our operation. They are running it
on our behalf. What that means is that
[7:32] we are still funding the daily
operations for everything that happens
[7:36] on the campus. So that part doesn't
change. So when we talk about the cost
[7:40] cost to the city or cost to the
contractor, I want to be very clear that
[7:45] um the cost of running of actually
operating the operating expenses will
[7:49] still be funded by the city of Mesa. Um
and they will be doing it on our behalf.
[7:55] So, what are the actual costs um out the
door costs? The city cost to Legends
[7:59] Global um as an entity is a monthly base
fee for a monthly management fee of
[8:04] $14,000 a month. Um they will also
receive um on food and beverage 4% on
[8:10] the gross sales and 8% on the net sales.
There is an annual performance
[8:15] incentive. So, each year there will be
performance measures that will uh
[8:19] benchmarks and targets that will be set
um with both entities. And at each year
[8:24] we'll review those to see if they've met
those and there's a um incentive fee of
[8:27] up to $50,000. It is based on each
benchmark. There's an annual
[8:32] quantitative incentive fee. And what
that is is in our adjusted gross income
[8:36] each year, um Legends Global will put
together a budget and targets that they
[8:41] will give to us. We'll review them. We
need to approve them. So it'll be
[8:45] between the city of Mesa and Legends
Global what our targets are for next
[8:49] year, what we hope to accomplish. um if
they accomplish those that does not go
[8:53] into this incentive fee. It's only if
they go above and beyond those then they
[8:56] would receive 20% of the AGI over
whatever benchmark we had set for that
[9:00] year. And then for sponsorship
commissions, which is this is an
[9:04] industry standard um as they go out and
receive um advertising sponsorships for
[9:09] particular things could be possibly be
naming rights um they would receive a
[9:13] 20% in essence finders fee or commission
on those.
[9:19] Um, Legends Global has agreed to um help
us and and contribute to the capital
[9:25] portion of this by doing a one front a
onetime upfront payment of $500,000 that
[9:30] would go towards some type of
improvement on the campus. Those are to
[9:34] be determined as we go through and start
talking about what is the priority for
[9:38] us. um what is the the thing we can do
right out of the gate um that could help
[9:42] us increase our revenues or increase our
number of shows while we continue to
[9:46] work on larger plans of the campus what
it would look like and maybe a larger
[9:51] capital improvement. These would be
things we could do within the next year.
[9:56] Um they've also they they are all about
community. So they would like to um
[10:01] contribute $10,000 a year for the five
years of the term toward a not
[10:05] for-profit or a community based
organization of the city's choice. And
[10:08] so that'll be something we would talk
about as we move forward where we would
[10:11] like those funds to go. They will also
be covering the transition cost of
[10:16] actually setting this up. So the way
this is organized is there's actually a
[10:20] two-month transition period where they
need to set up all of the infrastructure
[10:24] in order to take on this management and
they would be covering those costs. It
[10:27] would be no cost to the city for that
setup.
[10:33] Um at this time I'm going to hand it
over to Harry so he can talk a little
[10:35] bit. you can get to know Legends Global
a little bit more.
[10:38] » So, thank you, Candace. First of all,
let me start by saying thank you for the
[10:41] invitation to be here today. Um, very
much appreciated. This is a partnership
[10:45] we are very excited about. We're ready
to get going. Um, and again, so thank
[10:50] you for this opportunity and uh we know
it's going to be successful for all
[10:54] parties moving forward. Um, you've got
on your screen there just a quick
[10:58] overview of Legends Global. Uh we are a
worldwide industryleading company that
[11:04] specializes in much more than just venue
management and content and booking. We
[11:08] provide all of those specialized
services a 360 degree suite of services
[11:12] that you see there on the right hand
side. Tyler who will speak here in a
[11:15] minute represents feasibility and
consulting with our with CSL our
[11:19] affiliate. We provide owners rep um
services for uh and project management
[11:24] services for renovations, expansions,
new construction. Um premium sales more
[11:29] so on the arena stadium side in terms of
your your VIP spaces um your suites,
[11:33] your loies, your club seats. We have
expertise in in those sales efforts. Um
[11:38] partnerships is as Candace just said,
naming rights, sponsorship, advertising,
[11:42] entitlements. Uh we have a whole
division on a worldwide scale that
[11:46] specializes in that area.
Hospitality, which is food and beverage,
[11:49] which will be part of our scope here. Uh
merchandise probably not so much, but we
[11:53] do have the the access to those
individuals. We do merchandise for NFL
[11:58] teams, for the Olympics, for the RDER
Cup. So again, worldwide experience with
[12:02] the sale of merchandise, both uh retail
and and online. And then venue
[12:06] management and content booking are
really the core services um that we're
[12:10] providing here for the Mesa Convention
Center, the amphitheater. So what does
[12:13] this all mean for the city? It means
access to um and the support of the
[12:18] resources and the expertise of all these
divisions as we move ahead together um
[12:22] to grow these venues, to grow the city,
and to grow the destination.
[12:28] Um just real quickly, uh drilling down
on venue management, we manage 450
[12:31] venues worldwide. About 70% of those are
North America. Uh we do have a fairly
[12:36] significant international footprint as
well. Um the majority of our um uh
[12:42] venues that we manage are municipally
owned. Um so we are in essence a
[12:46] government contractor. We understand the
basic tenants of public administration
[12:51] and transparency and bidding
requirements and all those things that
[12:54] are important to our municipal partners
as you over oversee and manage these
[12:58] venues on behalf of the taxpayers. So
that's our wheelhouse. We do manage some
[13:02] very large um a market uh venues, seven
NFL stadiums, large convention centers.
[13:09] But if you look at our resume, we really
specialize in smaller venues, whether
[13:13] it's convention centers, arenas,
theaters, um equestrian centers, um
[13:18] conference centers, um whether they're
in a secondary market, a tertiary
[13:22] market, or in a very crowded a market
where Mesa sits here in in the Phoenix
[13:25] market. Um, and we've had tremendous uh
success using our resources, our
[13:30] visibility, our branding, our best
practices to elevate the operations of
[13:34] those venues. Um, and many of our
clients have been with us for a long
[13:38] time. We've we've succeeded in achieving
their goals. We've earned renewals and
[13:42] we're hopeful that'll be the path here
with the city of Mesa moving forward.
[13:45] The other thing I'll say before we leave
this page, Candace, this is kind of our
[13:48] wheel of resources. We have over 100
people um just in the venue management
[13:52] silo of our company that support the
operations of our local staff here or
[13:56] will be supporting day in and day out um
across all these disciplines and more
[14:00] all these departments. To me this is the
real value of our company is um you know
[14:06] I've been doing this a long time. Brad's
been doing this a long time but we don't
[14:09] know everything. And operating in this
in this world this specialized world for
[14:14] almost 50 years. You live and learn
trial and error. You take everything
[14:18] that we're learning every day and what
we do is condense that and distill it
[14:22] down into usable programs and systems
and best practices um to elevate the
[14:27] operations and the support for our local
staff and achieving your goals. That is
[14:31] the real power of our company is that
shared worldwide experience from doing
[14:34] this for for many many years.
And on the local level, while we are a
[14:40] large international company, we have a
presence here in the market already. Um
[14:45] um I'm sure you're all familiar with
State Farm Stadium, Desert Diamond
[14:48] Arena. We also have some food and
beverage operations um in the market. We
[14:52] run the the uh the food and beverage at
Talking Stick, the amphitheater uh for
[14:57] Live Nation. So um so we're coming into
this engagement with the Mesa Convention
[15:03] Center and the amphitheater in the city
which is a perfect complimentary venue
[15:07] to uh the footprint we already have in
the market. Existing relationships and
[15:12] understanding of the market, community
relationships, business relationships,
[15:16] um operators and programmers that sit in
this market that know it very well. Um
[15:20] again to support our operations here, no
learning curve. Um and we're ready to
[15:24] hit the ground running. I'll turn it
over to Tyler.
[15:36] » Great. Well, excited to be back here.
Um, excited to remain a part of the
[15:40] planning of of these facilities, the
convention center and amphitheater. Um,
[15:44] some of you may remember me probably
from a year and a half ago as we
[15:47] concluded our feasibility study. Um,
fortunate timing from the CSL side, our
[15:52] organization became uh uh joined with
the former ASM uh organization. We are
[15:58] now Legends Global. We are now the
global planning arm for Legends Global.
[16:03] And the great news here is we have a
wealth of data and research that we
[16:07] conducted over the course of the second
half of 2024, first half of 2025,
[16:12] looking at the opportunities for the
convention center and amphitheater to
[16:15] increase business, to increase economic
impact. um both in terms of of what can
[16:21] we do capital investment wise, but
there's also opportunities to think
[16:24] strategically about those buildings and
diversify and increase the programming
[16:28] that that go to those facilities. This
is a recap of the work that we did um
[16:32] looking at your building versus the 50
potentially competitive facilities
[16:36] throughout the valley. Uh benchmarking
you against similar facilities around
[16:39] the nation. We also collected input from
65 event planners representing more than
[16:44] 300 events. we have the real world data
uh about what we could do here from a
[16:48] marketing standpoint, from a scheduling
standpoint and capital investment
[16:51] standpoint uh to help guide the future
of of this facility and downtown Mesa.
[16:57] Um on the next slide is just a quick
recap of what we saw as as as key
[17:01] opportunities and issues for the the
convention center. Um there has been
[17:05] increased convention activity and
meetings activity certainly following
[17:08] the COVID pandemic in in the valley area
and at the same time we're dealing with
[17:12] a very competitive field of hotel
conference centers, various ballrooms
[17:16] that are that are around the the area.
This is a building that has been used
[17:20] for local shows, public consumer shows,
and but has increased conventions uh in
[17:25] recent years. How do we build on that
momentum? not necessarily by uh trying
[17:29] to be the next Phoenix Convention Center
and and greatly expand our footprint,
[17:32] but by differentiating and by thinking
strategically of what types of groups
[17:36] and meetings could fit here. And then
over time thinking, okay, what can we do
[17:41] uh uh uh from a physical investment
standpoint to increase that business and
[17:44] support that growth because I think
there's an exciting opportunity for this
[17:48] building and the amphitheater to be a
big part of a really exciting future for
[17:52] downtown. We certainly talked about that
in the report last year. Um similar for
[17:56] the amphitheater. Um I think what what
Legends uh brings to the table is is the
[18:01] network um relationships not just with
Live Nation but a number of promoters
[18:06] nationally and regionally uh to help
bring a diverse set of programming to
[18:10] this building. They also bring a lot of
creative thinking and ideas for how can
[18:14] we use the amphitheater, not just for
concerts and performances, but in unison
[18:18] with the convention center. So, I think
there's synergies that we're we're going
[18:21] to work together to to identify to to
greatly maximize the use of that
[18:25] building and again think of the future
um over the next 5 10 years. How can we
[18:30] improve the experience of that not just
for attendees but for the artists and
[18:34] make sure that we're we're growing our
calendar of events that that are going
[18:37] to the facility.
um CSL, you know, our our role here is
[18:42] is to continue uh uh to look at the
future of these facilities to advise the
[18:47] legends team and provide real market
data. You know, that's what really sets
[18:51] this relationship apart in in this world
of live sports and meetings and
[18:55] conferences and entertainment. We're
here to actually give them the voice of
[18:58] the consumer. We're here to give them
data on competitive venues. And we're
[19:02] here to think strategically about from
an economic and financial perspective
[19:07] what are the the wisest moves we can
make with both of these facilities over
[19:10] time. Over on the right are just some of
the trends we identified in the report
[19:14] last year. But immersive experiences,
technology, local and authentic food and
[19:18] beverage. also looking at the
amphitheater and thinking of when from
[19:22] when you get there to when you leave,
you know, engaging the the attendee and
[19:25] and giving them the best experience
possible and creating as many
[19:28] opportunities for for revenue generation
as possible for for major concert
[19:32] concerts that are going there. So, we we
are here to be an ongoing adviser. um
[19:37] look forward to to working with you all
in the future and working with Harry and
[19:41] the team um to help think uh uh not just
of of near-term planning and
[19:45] strategizing in these venues, but
starting to think also, okay, what's a
[19:49] schedule of of projects we can think
about over the next five years and what
[19:52] gives us the greatest return. So, very
excited to continue to be here. Um and
[19:58] uh I think I'll pass it back to Candace.
[20:03] » Facility improvement planning. you sorry
>> uh facility improvement planning um um
[20:08] you heard Tyler talk about that a little
bit those are that that's the expertise
[20:11] that they bring right is what is it that
we can monetize what is the best effort
[20:16] that we can put forward in the next year
two years five years um in order to
[20:20] really um elevate that entire campus and
so we'll be working together all three
[20:25] you know two entities but CSL is is part
of legends global now as we really go
[20:30] through those so they will be providing
that expertise to us similar to what
[20:33] they did with the feasibility study
taking it to that next level, that next
[20:36] step. Um what is the first priority, the
second priority, and what is it we're
[20:40] actually trying to drive to? Um and how
do we implement that over this time?
[20:45] Um the transition itself. So the
transition the the contract we have
[20:50] proposal for you is a 62-month initial
term. The reason why it's 62 is so that
[20:54] there's a full 5-year management period
um following the two-month transition
[20:59] period. Um, so transition period right
now we are looking for a September 1st
[21:03] start to the transition period and a
November 1st start to the actual
[21:08] management. That's when they would then
be the on-site managers effective on
[21:12] November 1st. Um, there are three uh
five-year renewal administrative
[21:17] renewals that we could do for a total of
20 years on this and it would go through
[21:22] our normal administrative processes for
that. Some of the things that we do want
[21:26] to talk about is that um there have been
questions about our staff and the
[21:30] transition and how does that work
because these will again these will be
[21:33] legends employees that will be on this
campus. Um all of our employees have
[21:37] known this. We have been very
transparent over the last year that this
[21:40] was a a direction we were going in. Um,
and once we do have a signed contract,
[21:45] we'll be working with each employee to
see if they would like to move over to
[21:49] the Legends Global team and continue on
that site or if they would like to stay
[21:54] with the city of Mesa and we will assist
them in finding another location within
[21:58] the city for them to work. So, it'll be
an employee by employee basis. No
[22:02] employees will be laid off as part of
this process. they will all have a home
[22:06] and it's up to them where that home is
um on what side if they want to continue
[22:10] in that industry which we have some who
are very industrydriven and this would
[22:13] be a great opportunity for them and
there are others who are long-term
[22:16] employees and like to stay with the city
of Mesa and we'll and we will make space
[22:19] for them as well so they will all be
taken care of. Um there will be a
[22:23] general manager on site that would be
our prime contact for the the city side.
[22:27] So we'll have a city contracts
administrator that will be the contact
[22:31] on our side and the general manager will
be the contact on their side. Uh we will
[22:36] continue to have access to all
financials uh into the financial records
[22:40] as well as monthly reports, quarterly
reports, uh projections, those types of
[22:44] things. So this is truly a partnership
between the city of Mesa and Legends
[22:49] Global in their management of that. So
we will be in every step. This isn't
[22:53] something that at the end of the year we
find out how they did. Um, this is being
[22:58] with them at every step, knowing what's
happening this month, what's in what's
[23:01] coming up in the next few months, how
are bookings going, how are shows going,
[23:06] um, and those types of things, as well
as the feedback that we have on, um,
[23:10] surveys, whether it's artist surveys or,
um, customer surveys, those types of
[23:15] things. So, this is truly an integrated
partnership u between the city of Mesa
[23:19] and Legends Global.
And with that, I will
[23:24] » I think that was the smoothest
presentation that has ever gotten
[23:27] through council. Well,
>> however, I'm sure there are questions at
[23:33] this part. Mr. Adams, would you like to
begin?
[23:36] » Well, thank you, Vice Mayor. Uh, thank
you for that presentation. Um,
[23:41] I am I'm just curious about a couple
things. Um, as as you have had a chance
[23:46] to look over our venue,
what do you see as its limitations
[23:53] and in in comparison to uh venues in
similar size cities and what are your
[24:01] plans to try to address those? I mean, I
I won't repeat what we've heard from
[24:07] different sources as limitations, but
I'd [clears throat] be curious to know
[24:11] how you see it. How do you think we move
beyond those?
[24:16] How do we attract um maybe some more
A-list acts, that type of thing? So,
[24:23] that's that's my my first question. And
second part is um can you describe
[24:29] similar venues in other municipalities
that you've stepped into and what have
[24:35] the result what have the challenges and
the results been there?
[24:40] » Do you want to grab that? Mhm.
>> Physical.
[24:43] » Let's go.
>> From from you know the the facility
[24:48] standpoint and you know some things that
put a ceiling I think on on potential
[24:53] for for the facilities. You know from
the convention center side it it is it
[24:56] is dated. Um the hotel package could be
grown. Um that's probably a longer term
[25:02] issue. um technology um and some of the
services that certainly some of the
[25:08] corporate sector and and some higher
value associations are looking for out
[25:12] of venues. We we don't have those
currently. So that's certainly the
[25:15] something to look at over time. From the
amphitheater standpoint, um we've talked
[25:19] about similar issues, things with the
modern attendee experience, uh premium
[25:23] seating, more points of sale for food
and beverage aren't aren't quite up to
[25:27] standard. Um maybe there's opportunities
to expand capacity over time as well. Um
[25:32] it's a great unique boutique experience.
I I love that that venue. Um but is
[25:37] there potential to slightly tweak it? Um
you know to to maximize the value that
[25:41] that we get from the community. Um and
then I think just thinking strategically
[25:47] and and you know just just even even
looking at the calendar and maximizing
[25:51] the value of the events that we get with
the facilities we have today. I think
[25:53] there's still potential uh uh you know
to to grow the event calendar um even
[25:58] before we begin the physical planning.
But I I'll let Harry speak to just
[26:01] similar venues that they've been a part
of.
[26:05] » Yeah, just to piggyback first on on what
Tyler said regarding the amphitheater.
[26:08] Um and and we al also had some
recommendations for the convention
[26:11] center, but we certainly during the
course of this RFP process, we we we
[26:16] shared some aspirational uh thoughts
around um where these venues could go.
[26:21] Realize a lot needs to come together
with the financing end and how that we
[26:24] all pull that together. But um again I
mentioned we've got a a pretty good
[26:29] knowledge of this market and we we we
drew upon that experience of operating
[26:33] the market to drive kind of our
recommendation specific to the
[26:35] amphitheater. If we can get to the point
where we can increase capacity, make an
[26:40] investment into that amphitheater both
in the back of house and the front of
[26:43] house. increase the the the rigging
capacities. U I think Tyler mentioned um
[26:48] the event experience, food and beverage,
right? Points of sale, meeting and
[26:53] exceeding customers expectations in
today's world. Um it's great to get the
[26:57] events, but then you want to maximize
the experience as well as maximizing
[27:00] revenue with a commercial mindset. But
um it's all about the event experience
[27:04] at the end of the day, right? Every
event is an opportunity to to wow
[27:08] people, right? And create cheerleaders
and ambassadors for the venues and for
[27:12] the city. you don't want to you don't
want to people leaving with a terrible
[27:15] experience. So, it's managing every step
in that process from the time they leave
[27:19] home to the time they get home and
making sure that that experience um as I
[27:23] said creates those ambassadors for for
the venues in the city. um in terms of
[27:28] maximizing I mean I I think of again we
manage so many venues I think of Grand
[27:32] Rapids I think of Baton Rouge I think of
Florence um Sagenol Michigan um theaters
[27:37] in in Ohio Toledo Ohio where operating
at a significant deficit we've turned
[27:42] that turned those into profitable
buildings or significantly decreased um
[27:46] the required subsidy each year um Tyler
touched on a little bit which I didn't I
[27:51] don't didn't think we had time in this
in this session but to drill too deep um
[27:55] But the shared data and analytics that
we have as our company again pulling all
[27:59] that information together
>> to inform our local staff to help them
[28:03] do the best deals right and doing the
shows to help them advance the shows
[28:06] properly. Um if we know there's a tour
that's played six other of our venues we
[28:10] have all that shared information from
those events
[28:14] um what people like to eat, what people
like to drink so we can plan effectively
[28:19] again maximize their experience and
maximize revenue. So what we're doing in
[28:23] that world with a program we have
workday and AI down the road and all of
[28:27] that technology and and shared data um
um again drives that experience and
[28:33] drives more revenue um to the venue. But
um you know we've grown to the size we
[28:38] have because we've achieved our
municipal partners goals and that's
[28:41] that's financial and otherwise. Yes. the
the mission and the goals for many of
[28:46] these venues the same bottom line
performance economic impact right
[28:51] quality of life for residents attracting
new residents bringing people downtown
[28:56] um as a complimentary venue to the other
assets that's in the community all those
[29:00] things but they vary a little bit it's
not cookie cutter every every city every
[29:03] state every county authority they have
different goals working within those
[29:07] broader u set of of typical objectives
and and missions so we customize to our
[29:13] individual
municipal partners goals which we will
[29:15] do here um with a demonstrated track
record and again I I go back to using
[29:20] the scale of the company and the
experience and the data that we have and
[29:24] the information um but maximize the
opportunities and the events when we get
[29:28] them also the marketing the branding the
vis visibility in two separate
[29:33] industries the live entertainment
industry and and the convention meeting
[29:36] hospitality industry uh which these
venues play in and having those
[29:40] relationships on a national level on a
regional level um and a comfort level
[29:44] for users um and and our partners that
if they come to a a Legends Global
[29:48] Managed building, they're going to
receive great service and u there's a
[29:52] level of expectation that they have
comfort with.
[29:54] » Good. I appreciate that. Just one other
quick question. How many outdoor venues
[29:59] similar to ours do [clears throat] you
currently manage or operate?
[30:03] » We manage I think 20 some amphitheaters.
>> Okay.
[30:07] » Um Council Member Adams. Um various
sizes. We just opened uh the Aquaore
[30:12] Amphitheater in Grand Rapids. That's
about 12,000 seats.
[30:16] » Okay.
>> Um just a few months ago. Uh we managed
[30:21] down to boutique amphitheaters, 5,000
capacity, 7,000 seat capacity capacity
[30:26] in Raleigh, North Carolina and Kerry
right outside of Raleigh. Uh 15,000 seat
[30:31] uh amphitheater in Syracuse, New York.
Um so we have a a fairly significant
[30:35] footprint um in the amphitheater world.
So I imagine you face the uh the
[30:40] opposite seasonal problem in Grand
Rapids that we face here. So okay, good.
[30:44] Thank you so much.
>> Yeah, thank you.
[30:45] » That actually works out because once
they're done over there, they can come
[30:48] right over here and book.
>> But I think ours is only 5,000
[30:54] » 5,000 capacity. So it's on the smaller
end.
[30:58] » Council member Duff, I know you've been
waiting. Thank you.
[31:00] » Yeah, I have quite a few questions. Um
apologize for the long list. it took a
[31:06] little while for all the information to
be uploaded.
[31:08] » [clears throat]
>> Um so a couple of years ago we did a
[31:12] whole visioning of the convention center
and look at at capital improvements and
[31:18] I think there was two or three
selections depending on how much we want
[31:22] to invest and what the ROI is this
related or is this a separate exercise
[31:28] or I mean it is that work related to the
future of what Legends is working on.
[31:37] So, Vice Mayor and Council Member Duff,
it is um it is related in the fact that
[31:41] this is the next step towards trying to
achieve those goals, right? So, what we
[31:45] came to council with a year and a half
ago was this is the feasibility of the
[31:49] the actual facilities themselves, like
what would we need to do physically at
[31:54] the campus in order to elevate the n the
artists, the the acts we get, the things
[31:59] that we book at the convention center,
the food and beverage, that type of
[32:02] thing. So, that was a feasibility study
and it left us with some really great
[32:05] ideas. Um and the next question is how
do we fund those? How do we how do we
[32:11] invest? We know we want to invest in
this campus. How do we go about doing
[32:14] that? So this is that next step of
actually bringing in an international
[32:18] partner um in this industry who has done
this before and can figure out how to
[32:24] elevate what we currently have and
monetize it in a manner that allows us
[32:28] to invest then back in all of those
revenues back in to larger capital
[32:33] improvements which then increases our
revenues and allows us to invest again.
[32:37] So the goal of this is actually to
monetize as much as we can as it sits
[32:41] today. Um doing some minor modifications
as much as we can and then reinvesting
[32:47] and reinvesting so that we're constantly
reinvesting back into the campus. It is
[32:52] it is investing the revenues from the
campus back into the campus and not
[32:57] asking in the future for general funds
in order to fund a capital improvement.
[33:02] The capital improvement would be funded
by the revenues coming from the campus
[33:05] itself. So that is the goal. This is
this is the step one into that
[33:09] [clears throat] goal which is to bring
in a partner who has that expertise and
[33:12] that breadth of experience and resources
that allows us to truly maximize what we
[33:18] can do on this campus. So this is really
that it's this is that next step from
[33:21] that feasibility study. And and maybe I
can just add, vice mayor and council
[33:26] member. Um that's why I'm so excited
this morning because um I love seeing
[33:31] Tyler this morning in this perspective
because now we have a path forward to
[33:35] actually make some of that those visions
that um we had when you were presented
[33:40] uh their findings a year and a half ago
an actual reality that's not going to
[33:45] burden our overall uh taxpayers. Because
what what this partnership uh allows us
[33:51] to do is maximize revenue that's
generated on site by bringing um more
[33:56] lucrative shows by by maximizing our
return on investment uh that we make
[34:02] both in the amphitheater and the
convention center to bring high value
[34:06] acts and bring highv value conventions
and others that will uh further revenue
[34:11] that then we'll be able to invest back
into the infrastructure and the capital
[34:16] side of this program. I mean, we sat
here a year and a half ago with the
[34:20] vision of what it was going to take to
uh modernize our facilities, but we had
[34:25] no path forward on how we were going to
pay for for those as Candace just said.
[34:29] And so, this partnership because of what
um Legends Global brings to the table
[34:34] will allow us to maximize revenue at
these centers that can be reinvested
[34:38] back in them. So the users will be
paying for the capital improvements of
[34:42] these facilities and not shifting the
burden onto any of the general city
[34:46] taxpayers. And that is uh a fantastic
development that we could not have
[34:52] foreseen if we had stayed with the
status quo. And uh and we we have
[34:56] excellent staff. U to Harry's point
about um other venues that might have
[35:01] been operating in the red, we're we're
fortunate um and and maybe unique in
[35:05] some ways that we we paid for ourselves.
We were break even, but we weren't
[35:10] maximizing the opportunities. Uh, and it
wasn't for lack of great staff. It's
[35:15] we're not part of the network that Harry
just described. If you're a convention
[35:19] planner, um, you're taking the path of
least resistance. You're not reaching
[35:23] out to independent venues to schedule
your conventions. You're calling Legends
[35:27] Global because you have a relationship
with them and you're saying, "I want to
[35:30] schedule my next four years. I want to
be in the Northeast. I want to be in the
[35:33] Pacific Northwest, in Florida, and then
in in the Southwest."
[35:37] Where where are you going to put me,
Legends Global? Where where are your
[35:40] venues? What makes sense for my um for
my um conference or or my uh touring
[35:47] artist or whatever it may be? That's
just access and opportunity that we
[35:51] haven't had. and that these uh industry
experts know how to maximize, know how
[35:58] to bring in that high value um into both
the amphitheater and the convention
[36:03] center, which will then allow us to
invest back into um into those
[36:08] facilities so that we can continue to um
to elevate it um to to a modern facility
[36:15] to uh a high value facility like the
amphitheater to bring in uh those
[36:19] experiences like Harry um had described
earlier.
[36:23] with um all the modern amenities and
high value FnB and other uh
[36:29] opportunities that just reflect the
reality of the market today and that um
[36:35] we we current we currently can't provide
without substantially burdening the
[36:40] taxpayers um in a way that I I know
brought a lot of hesitation to probably
[36:45] all of us and so uh this partnership
will give us a path forward and that's
[36:50] one of the reasons I'm I'm so excited
about because it was a daunting prospect
[36:53] of how are we going to get there. So we
had to change the model. We had to do
[36:57] something uh different to maximize
private sector expertise and investment
[37:01] and so that's why this partnership is is
a real I mean it's a it's a big deal.
[37:05] This is a real gamecher uh and will have
a ripple effect. I I appreciate that the
[37:10] Delta uh hotel is here because again
we're um this this will have a ripple
[37:15] effect into what we're seeing in
downtown throughout the hospitality side
[37:19] of things. I know you've received a
letter from Visit Mesa um with their
[37:23] support. Um you know, the mayor I think
I think the mayor left something with
[37:27] the vice vice mayor uh to express his
support, but the mayor's been a big big
[37:32] champion of this because again, if we
were going to change the status quo, if
[37:36] we were if we were going to find
funding, we had to go out and and
[37:41] harness the private sector opportunities
of partnership. And that's what um the
[37:45] Legends Global team um brings to the
table. That's why it's a big deal.
[37:50] » Yeah, I appreciate that and I'm very
excited about it. But I'm still trying
[37:53] to pull everything together because
we've been on this road for quite a
[37:57] while. I was trying to decide what we're
going to do with the convention center
[38:00] and I didn't know if Legends was
involved at that time. Sounds like it
[38:02] was a separate feasibility study which
led us to Legends. We're no longer
[38:07] looking at a bond opportunity in order
to do improvements. But I do say and
[38:12] you're you're experienced at this. It's
kind of a chicken and egg thing, right?
[38:16] In order for you to get the revenue that
you need to to improve the building, you
[38:21] have to have investment. But you can't
get the investment until you, you know,
[38:25] until you do the improve. I'll leave
that to you. Um, it's kind kind of
[38:30] tricky. Um, are we expecting any revenue
from this at from to the city or this is
[38:39] » I imagine there's so much investment
that needs to go on from the feasibility
[38:43] study that we saw. identified like at
the bottom level is like $30 million. Um
[38:49] so are we paying for you said operations
I don't know what that is and then do we
[38:57] expect revenues?
>> So vice mayor and council member Jeff
[39:01] this is um so again they are operating
on our behalf. So it is still city funds
[39:07] that are funding all of the operations.
So anything operational on that campus
[39:12] is still a city funded operations.
>> So we're see keeping all the revenue and
[39:16] city
>> keeping all the revenue. Right.
[39:17] » And then the commission base and all
that. That's where you're right
[39:22] » getting your revenues. Okay.
>> Correct. So Legends Global would receive
[39:25] exactly what was on that list. Anything
above and beyond that are everything is
[39:29] city revenues. The only thing that comes
out of those city revenues are exactly
[39:33] what's on that list based on formulas.
>> Okay. Then looking at the way we
[39:38] envisioned [clears throat] our arts and
innovation district is a lot of
[39:42] development over property that is around
the convention center on the convention
[39:46] center especially a lot of parking lots
maybe could be built over or anyway we
[39:52] need to do some visioning on that. Is
there anything that prohibits us from
[39:57] you know development? We wanted to do
the lightw walk and have development
[40:00] vertically along that up to the
convention center making that connection
[40:03] from the convention center to downtown
to activate our downtown from the
[40:08] convention center. Is there
>> So we're still on the grounds. We have
[40:14] » vice council member de we the ownership
doesn't change. Um all of the plans that
[40:19] we've done with the the future lightwalk
and the partnerships with ASU and the
[40:24] rebuilding of that kind of post office
area, the Serin House improvements that
[40:27] we're going to do, the natural history
museum which is downtown. Anything that
[40:31] we do at the MAC, all of that stays the
same. So all of the planning that we're
[40:35] putting in um with Jack Mufay's team and
and JDonnell's team about how to really
[40:40] lift and boost the downtown, all of that
is still in play. All of that is still
[40:45] continuing. This actually elevates um by
bringing another another team to the to
[40:50] the to the group, right? And another set
of expertise about what we could we
[40:55] could do on campus. How does that fit
into the lightwalk? How do we make that
[40:59] connection between because that's what
the lightwalk is for, right? is to make
[41:02] that connection between the convention
center and Main Street because we want
[41:05] people who come to a concert, we don't
want them to get back in their car. We
[41:09] want them to go to Main Street, right,
and continue their festivities for that
[41:13] day and then um and then leave the
downtown, right? We want people to come
[41:17] early and we want people to stay late.
And so this all um all of this still
[41:22] continues. What this does is bring
expertise to the table for this
[41:25] particular campus.
>> Yeah. And we have on the campus of the
[41:29] convention center, we like I said, we
have a lot of land that's not really
[41:33] producing anything and reworking that.
We still have that opportunity within
[41:37] the campus of the convention center to
continue that vision of utilizing the
[41:42] property. Okay. Um
we have um existing contracts especially
[41:50] with Mesa AMP and stuff like that. Does
that all terminate or do you work with
[41:55] like I know Danny Leco?
>> No. So yeah, Vice Mayor and Council
[41:58] Member Duff, all contracts um will
continue. So this is a seamless
[42:02] transition at the end of the day. Um we
hope that our customers um just have a
[42:08] seamless transition with us as we work
through the next two months in that
[42:11] transition period. Those are all the
things that would be um identified. Yes,
[42:15] this is an industry that books out one,
two, or sometimes three years ahead
[42:18] depending on how large um either the
concert or the convention is. And so
[42:23] those would just be seamless
transitions. The contracts would remain
[42:26] in place. Any contract signed on behalf
of the city of Mesa is still in place
[42:29] when Legends Global comes in to manage
that particular contract.
[42:33] » Um there may be some uh different
subcontractors, those types of things.
[42:37] So they will have people who have
contracted with us for a convention,
[42:41] let's say for next year. um they would
now have um access to the new food and
[42:46] beverage um selections that they could
work from, but the contract itself would
[42:51] remain in place.
>> Food and beverage. Yeah, we need to work
[42:53] on that, especially when it comes to the
Mesa AMP. And I I love that you had the
[42:57] elevated food concepts there. and like
to encourage
[43:02] where appropriate using some of our
local restaurants and beverage providers
[43:07] that are you know especially in the
beverages they make their own products
[43:12] and stuff like that and do distribution
to grocery stores they have the capacity
[43:15] to um sell and it keeps it unique kind
of like airports right you go to
[43:20] airports and it's boring now if you go
to an airport and they have the standard
[43:24] whatever you know you want to see some
local fair
[43:27] » I um Vice Mayor, Council Member Duff, um
that is foundational to how we operate
[43:33] our food and beverage operations. um
incorporating technology, speed of sale,
[43:38] proper points of sale, graband go, all
those things, elevated VIP club
[43:43] experiences, premium experiences, but um
foundational is the use of local
[43:47] products, local vendors, local brands,
local suppliers, giving local community
[43:52] businesses and entrepreneurs an
opportunity um to elevate their
[43:55] operations, turn jobs into careers,
right? And providing them an opportunity
[44:00] that that's central to how we operate
municipally owned buildings. I mean that
[44:03] to me that's a core mission is providing
opportunities for local businesses and
[44:08] from an event experience standpoint I
think whether it's a convention a
[44:11] meeting a concert um the locals are are
they go to a show they want to
[44:18] experience brands and products that
they're familiar with that they're
[44:20] comfortable with it's a feeling of this
is our venue right a sense of equity in
[44:24] that venue and people coming from out of
town and visitors um they want to
[44:28] experience Mesa right they want to
experience local products and brands and
[44:32] um as part of the food and beverage
operation which is central to the event
[44:35] experience as we all know um and revenue
generation. I mean that is that is core
[44:40] to to the success of any any venue.
>> I appreciate that. It helps our
[44:45] businesses and our community by keeping
those dollars invested locally, but it
[44:49] really helps us brand downtown as well
as being that uniquely local experience
[44:55] by having it extended into the auxiliary
um building so we have more of a
[45:00] presence. So, thank you for for that.
Um,
[45:05] I just wanted to
um put in there the arts and innovation
[45:11] district. Of course, we're working with
ASU and the creative technologies
[45:16] and um you know,
augmented reality, virtual reality,
[45:21] filming, gaming, all these kinds of
things. And I I saw in your
[45:25] presentation, which I like very much, is
being able to do hybrid events as well
[45:30] as immersive events. And um I think that
could really put us on the map for our
[45:36] convention center is being highly
specialized to being able to do that,
[45:40] especially when we have so much talent
that we'll even more with more ASU
[45:45] schools here. um being able to integrate
and be have that identity do for the
[45:51] arts and innovation district, being part
of that, having that unique um venue
[45:57] that can do a gaming thing or things
like that that really are kind of new in
[46:03] the space. And it helps us again with
our identity and what we're trying to do
[46:07] in the economic development um the job
creation side of it for the downtown
[46:13] area. Um, oh, and we're doing a a music
scene and trying to get that going in
[46:20] downtown. I'm sure you've met with DMA.
And so, again, that's an extension of
[46:24] it. Now, um, we do use the convention
center for city events, whether the
[46:32] grounds um, events and community events,
United Food Bank, we usually do our
[46:36] turkey drives or whatever, those kind of
things. Are we looking at continuing
[46:41] that? Do we have access and rights to
>> working through those? Because it is
[46:47] kind of a
>> vice mayor and council member Duff. We
[46:49] actually have highlighted um as we go
through the contract, we've proposed
[46:53] specific events that will continue um
whether they're date specific like
[46:57] Celebrate Freedom, which is state
specific, or if they're um dates that we
[47:01] can work in conjunction with Legends
Global to find the right date, which is
[47:04] what we do with our our convention
center staff today, is looking for
[47:08] whether they're revenue options versus
an event that we need to do. we have
[47:11] highlighted the United Food Bank uh food
distribution, those two particular um
[47:16] uses of the parking lot on those days.
So, there's those particular state of
[47:20] the city um um those types of things
that we do on an annual basis. Um and
[47:25] also our departments use um a lot of the
rooms and so forth for events or
[47:30] meetings and so we would continue with a
fee structure for our department city
[47:35] use separate from the commercial use.
>> Okay. Okay. um you've touched upon it
[47:41] but you know do you have a vision over
all of the evolving you know what that
[47:46] is you've t we've talked a lot about
what's wrong with it not I'm not saying
[47:50] through you but over the years we've
like realized we have some things that
[47:55] need to be remedied um but as you look
forward and with your experience and
[48:00] knowledge working nationally with so
many venues do you what's your vision of
[48:04] how this can fit into the national
offerings and how we could stand out
[48:12] uniquely.
>> Yeah. Um, Vice Mayor, Council Member
[48:16] Duff, I I the vision is this is an
asset. It's a centerpiece asset for the
[48:22] community, right? Um, and in many way,
shapes, and forms, right? It's um you
[48:29] obviously there's the financial end of
it that's driving the e economic impact,
[48:32] but in many respects these venues help
shape or detract from the image of a
[48:37] downtown, right? And we've seen that if
they're well booked, if the service is
[48:41] good, um they are ingrained as part of
the community, it elevates, it lifts all
[48:46] boats. Um if the event schedule is down,
right, the facilities are not taken care
[48:50] of, uh they're in poor condition, it
just not only detracts from that
[48:54] individual
um operation and venue, but it reflects
[48:59] on the whole city. So um they're
centerpiece assets, right? They they
[49:03] impact the brand, the image of the city
as well as financially. So in my mind
[49:08] it's um establishing venues that are um
setting the trends or ahead of the
[49:15] trends of what's going out there um in
going on out there in the industry. Uh
[49:19] which we feel we are we have our finger
on the pulse of and in many cases we're
[49:23] actually setting those trends. Um again
two separate industries. Um but the
[49:28] bottom line is um having a venue and
having it operated in a way that it is a
[49:34] complimentary centerpiece asset to all
of all the assets and all the new stuff
[49:38] and improvements and investment and
technology that's going on in the city
[49:41] of Mesa so that it's complimentary. It
lifts all boats and we're all working
[49:45] together to do that. Um you know and it
comes down to collaboration it comes
[49:49] down to knowledge. comes down to um
again bringing that that experience from
[49:53] a worldwide scale of managing v many
venues just like this driving people
[49:58] downtown keeping people here as Candace
I think mentioned for two or three days
[50:02] not just coming to a show and leaving
but can we give them um a destination
[50:07] experience that is enjoyable that's
going to bring them back that's going to
[50:11] spread positive word of mouth um and
that that's goes beyond as I think we've
[50:16] touched on today just the venues the
district around that the opportunities,
[50:20] the attractions, the safety, the
security um um you know, the traffic
[50:26] flow, pedestrian and vehicular, does it
all make sense? Is it all coordinated?
[50:30] Um to provide the best experience,
right? And it's all about, as I said,
[50:35] it's all about lifting all boats and
working with stakeholders to to elevate
[50:39] the entire destination of which these
are centerpiece assets for the
[50:42] destination.
>> And yeah, I'll I'll add to that a little
[50:46] bit. Um, just kind of uh adding to a lot
of the points Harry made. Um, I think
[50:53] we're we're at at a time in both the
live entertainment and convention
[50:56] industry where planners, promoters,
attendees, they're looking for something
[50:59] more unique, more authentic. We know
there's certain lines of businesses and
[51:03] in certain cities we're not going to
compete with in terms of size, but we
[51:06] can very much differentiate in terms of
experience, technology. um throughout
[51:10] the the uh report writing process. I
mean, I was really excited, genuinely
[51:14] excited for for the f future of downtown
Mesa. So, there's paths we could go um
[51:18] in in terms of planning this this
downtown, certainly for a city that
[51:21] continues to grow and the convention
center and amphitheater could and should
[51:24] be a major anchor to to what does happen
here. So aligning with uh these goals
[51:30] regarding technology um the the the
lightwalk and and various public
[51:34] improvements we want to make throughout
downtown. Also aligning with economic
[51:37] development and going after highv value
tech and other industries that can come
[51:42] to town. This can be the welcome mat,
the showroom for those various
[51:45] industries. We're not going after 10,000
attendee conventions. We're going after
[51:49] meetings, gatherings, conferences, and
certainly leveraging what Arizona State
[51:53] has here and other labor that we have
here that's in the world of immersive
[51:56] experiences, which I think we're just,
you know, starting to get past the tip
[52:00] of the iceberg about opportunities for
there. Um, we're excited for that and
[52:04] it's a moving target. You know, I we
made that report last year and we can't
[52:07] fully predict what this facility could
and should look like 10 years from now,
[52:10] right? But that's why we're excited to
be part of the team uh to provide just
[52:14] data for decision-m on an ongoing basis
as we plan this out in phases over the
[52:18] coming years.
>> Well, I I appreciate your expertise. I
[52:22] look forward to working with you and
also continuing the engagement with the
[52:28] entities in in the surrounding area with
economic development. I could see this,
[52:33] you know, having a great convention
center in that museum being a cat
[52:37] catalyst along with the ASU schools for
the economic development and job
[52:43] creation that we want to do um along the
lightwalk and have, you know, um those
[52:50] opportunities. We have a great downtown,
but we need the jobs. We need the
[52:54] professional jobs here, and that's what
we're lacking. And that could really
[52:57] help. but working with economic
development and visit Mesa, we want to
[53:00] be the destination and our downtown and
ASU so that we holistically leverage all
[53:06] the assets that we're all bringing to
the table to um make each partner
[53:12] better. So, thank you.
>> Do we know off top of our heads how many
[53:18] days the convention center is booked for
the amphitheater
[53:23] currently?
>> I do. Uh, Vice Mayor, we have that data,
[53:27] but I don't have it in front of me, but
we can provide that data to the council.
[53:31] We are we are heavily utilized, I will
say, um, in that. And so, what we're
[53:36] really looking at is how to elevate what
we're already doing. How do we get that
[53:40] next tier convention, the ones who stay
for a few days, not just come in for the
[53:45] day and back out again? How do we get
the people who travel for that artist,
[53:51] not across town, but across the state?
um you know how do we do so it's really
[53:56] it's not necessarily a utilization it's
the type of acts and the type of
[54:00] conventions that create the bed bed
nights
[54:02] » yeah and you absolutely nailed where I
was going with that because I was
[54:06] curious the second followup was going to
be how many of those are multi-days as
[54:10] we want them staying at the delta so the
delta could also continue to do the
[54:15] investments that they want to make
>> right
[54:18] » to upscale this uh at the same time
>> yeah and vice that's exactly what we're
[54:22] looking at and for. So, it's it's really
never been a point of are we not
[54:26] utilizing the rooms? Are they not being
booked? They are being booked. It's this
[54:30] it's not necessarily overnight stays.
We're not. And that's what we're looking
[54:33] for is how do we encourage people to
come to downtown for more than just the
[54:37] day, right? We want them to be here for
the weekend or the week or um those
[54:41] types of things.
>> And I appreciate the discussion of the
[54:44] Mesa Celebration of Freedom because
that's going to continue to be a a
[54:48] marquee event for our community. Uh, I
see Chief Camelly in the background and
[54:53] one of the events I was thinking about
is the Arizona Fire School comes in and
[54:56] that's a multi-day event that utilizes
that facility.
[55:01] Beverage sale should be interesting,
Mary
[55:04] as they improve. And you had a comment,
Mr. Butler.
[55:07] » Well, no, I mean, Vice Mayor, you you
nailed it. It's again it's back to to
[55:12] high value utilization of the facility
because because we we do as I stated
[55:18] earlier we start off at a better spot
than a lot of smaller convention centers
[55:23] or maybe Harry could maybe tell me even
larger convention centers that we don't
[55:27] have to subsidize these facilities. They
break even. But so that's great. That's
[55:31] a good starting point. But the reality
is it it wasn't those high value
[55:35] conferences and shows that generate room
nights that that allowed people to stay.
[55:40] It it's great that we can book the venue
and um people would get in their car in
[55:45] their morning in Glendel and drive to
Mesa and be at a conference for four or
[55:50] five hours and then get back into their
car and drive back to Glendel all
[55:54] without frequenting a downtown
restaurant, without putting a head in
[55:58] bed at the Delta. Um so those were just
opportunities that we know with this
[56:04] partnership we'll be able to maximize
for high value um opportunities that can
[56:10] generate that revenue and have that
ripple effect not just through the the
[56:14] revenue that the facility brings in but
what that means for restaurants and
[56:17] hospitality and and businesses in
downtown Mesa. I mean, we've we've all
[56:22] been to conferences, overnight
conferences, and you know that impact
[56:25] that it has when people are going out at
night and going to the restaurants and
[56:29] and getting up in the morning and going
to the coffee shops and and and having
[56:33] those type of experiences. And so,
that's what we um hope to generate
[56:37] through through this partnership. Well,
not only that, I think about how many
[56:41] conferences we go to and by the time
we're starting to wind down, the next
[56:44] one is starting to wind up and and it's
just an exchange. And that's the kind of
[56:49] thing that we want to see is just one
right into the other.
[56:52] » Um, where do we see our naming rights?
At what point we might be be able to
[56:57] generate some revenue from naming
rights? I'm Arizona Financial Theater,
[57:02] Desert Diamond Arena, State Farm. Um,
Tempe Stadium is apparently sponsored by
[57:08] the devil.
[laughter]
[57:12] » Maybe not that one, but
>> Well, you know, depends on the check.
[57:16] Depress on the check. Well, I don't
know. The White Socks did the Pope thing
[57:19] the other day. That might be closer to
our kind of flavor around here.
[57:24] » Um, Vice Mayor, we will be um we will be
looking into those types of of things.
[57:28] All sponsorships to me are on the table.
Um, there are certain ones that would
[57:31] come back if it's name, not the devil.
Um, but um unless it's the Sunundevil.
[57:36] Um, but it's uh naming rights, those
types of things would come back to
[57:40] council. Something of that magnitude.
any type of a naming rights. We already
[57:43] have a policy in place for any naming
rights would come back to council for
[57:46] approval. Um but we'll be pursuing those
as well as just general sponsorships and
[57:51] advertising and things. How can we
monetize the campus?
[57:54] » All right. That's good to hear it come
back. There are a few I think that we
[57:58] would probably want to shy away from.
I've never
[58:00] » Sure. We we would obviously be very
cognizant of a public venue and and um
[58:05] wouldn't just Yeah, that would that
would be forefront of our thinking and
[58:09] partnership. And I know Legends Global
is very uh in any market that they're in
[58:14] dealing with a public private
partnership. They're everyone would be
[58:17] cognizant
>> and I I think the mayor is going to very
[58:20] much appreciate how many times he's
heard elevate in this conversation. So
[58:23] » maximize
>> and maximize well it's mostly elevate
[58:26] me. So fantastic questions from my left
side. No pressure on the right side, but
[58:33] that's where we're going to head with
>> I don't think there's anything left.
[58:37] [laughter]
>> It was well done. Um really and truly
[58:40] they you know Council Member Duff and
Adams covered most of my questions but I
[58:46] just do have a couple comments which you
know I appreciate that we've set the
[58:50] stage here on um telling us where we are
right now. I I didn't remember that we
[58:56] break even. So, I'm glad that you
mentioned that, Scott, and that the what
[59:00] the point and the goal and objective of
this is for, which is to
[59:06] capture more of that economic value
around downtown Mesa from the events at
[59:11] the convention center and amphitheater
as well as generate revenue to reinvest
[59:17] in improving those facilities because I
think to go out and to ask folks um to
[59:23] pay for that is is a lot there's a lot
more risk and in this way. We we sort of
[59:29] uh we prove that um we we do a test case
and we prove that that it's necessary.
[59:34] And I think people are are a little bit
more um apt to buy in and support um a
[59:41] capital improvement um program later on
when we've shown um the increase in
[59:47] improvement that we can make by using
what we have now. And I think that
[59:51] that's fantastic. I think we'll be able
to do that with your expertise and your
[59:54] network is to improve upon what we
already have uh and then build on that
[59:59] with uh adding funding investment in at
a later date.
[1:00:03] » And and let me be clear, Vice Mayor and
Council Member, I I do believe um and
[1:00:08] and we've you know, we've been working
with with Legends on on this and and um
[1:00:13] Mr. Kennington and others. We um we
believe again that the revenue generated
[1:00:19] on site will produce uh enough that's
going to allow us to make those capital
[1:00:24] investments. And so when we talk about
proving it up for um the rest of the
[1:00:29] community, we we want to take the burden
off the rest of the community. We want
[1:00:34] this to be userdriven and and that's
what this partnership will allow us to
[1:00:38] do. So I assume there's been discussions
about what those targets are
[1:00:43] » over and I over the five years um of the
contract the initial five years. Uh and
[1:00:50] » I I I don't I mean I see some some
incentive in there but there's no quotas
[1:00:55] or anything like that. Do we have any we
just have targets and we have some
[1:00:59] incentives.
>> Is that correct?
[1:01:01] » We have Vice Mayor and Council Member Go
forth. Those will be um negotiated each
[1:01:05] year when we put together the annual
budget and annual plan. Okay.
[1:01:08] » And so part of the contract is that each
annual plan is approved. They will they
[1:01:14] will propose one and we will have to
approve it. So there'll be some
[1:01:17] negotiations on what our targets are for
that year and the following year. So
[1:01:21] everything we set up is because we have
already put together targets before the
[1:01:24] year begins.
>> Okay.
[1:01:26] » And and this is you know Harry Harry's
got a business to run, right? And I
[1:01:29] appreciate that we can build into this
the opportunity that the more business
[1:01:34] that's brought and the higher value
business and the more FNB sells, they're
[1:01:38] going to win and we're going to win. And
that's that's what's great about this is
[1:01:42] that they have those connections and
those relationships that can bring that
[1:01:46] in. And the the better they do, the
better they'll do financially and the
[1:01:50] better we'll do financially. So it is it
really is that that partnership
[1:01:54] incentive that um is is great about this
relationship.
[1:01:59] » Yeah. I was a little surprised about the
five years, but is that sort of
[1:02:02] standard? Is that you know that I'm not
in this industry obviously, so maybe it
[1:02:07] is, but when I saw five years, I was
just a little surprised at the length.
[1:02:11] » Um Vice Mayor, Council Member Goforth,
um that is a fairly common term. Um
[1:02:17] without getting too much in in depth um
you know tax code kind of plays a role
[1:02:23] in when a when a facility is um uh built
or expanded renovated with taxfree
[1:02:30] bonds. There's certain regulations that
come into play with regard to how deal
[1:02:33] structures um um can be put together in
terms of term and calculations of
[1:02:39] incentives. So um this is somewhat of a
traditional um uh deal structure. It's
[1:02:44] performance-based to Scott's point. 100%
performance based. Yes, we get a base
[1:02:48] fee, but um we're incentivized to
maximize quantity, quality, diversity of
[1:02:53] events in both venues. Um uh which if
we're making more money than the city is
[1:02:59] much better off than we are. So um it
aligns our goals, it aligns our
[1:03:03] interests. Um so again, this is a fairly
common structure that we see with many
[1:03:07] of our municipal clients. Um,
>> so um it's it's pedal to the ground
[1:03:13] every day to to maximize opportunities
and to maximize revenue with a
[1:03:16] commercial mindset
>> and and vice mayor um council member Go
[1:03:20] forth and and we also have to avoid the
whiplash as as well. Obviously we are um
[1:03:26] we are working with our employees to um
to relocate those employees whether they
[1:03:31] choose to continue in the hospitality
industry or whether they um want to move
[1:03:36] to another position within the city. But
this isn't something that can be done
[1:03:40] lightly, right? You can't stand up your
own operations and then ratchet it down
[1:03:44] um you know overnight. And so that's why
five-year terms really um reasonable.
[1:03:49] They they have to staff up. they have to
make their assumptions of their ROI um
[1:03:54] on on a relationship like this and and
smaller terms would be difficult for us
[1:03:59] and for them to really make pencil out
and and practically be able to to ramp
[1:04:04] up hiring and and everything that's
needed to sustain that operation under
[1:04:09] shorter term. though. And that's why I I
think, you know, as as Candace, we're
[1:04:13] we're very proud of this relationship
now that we're entering into with with
[1:04:17] Legends. But this was a competitive
process and I I think that speaks to the
[1:04:21] market. Um some of their major
competitors in this space were um
[1:04:27] competed for this and and again, so I
think that really shows I mean they're
[1:04:32] this is their business. They know what
they're doing and and and their
[1:04:35] competitors know what they're doing. And
so the fact that they looked at these
[1:04:38] venues, uh, they toured the facilities,
they they saw the good and the bad of of
[1:04:43] these facilities, and yet it was a very
competitive process, I think, speaks to
[1:04:47] the opportunity that's there. We've got
facilities with good bones. That good
[1:04:51] opportunity well situated in this metro
area that can be better maximized with
[1:04:56] with these strategic strategic
investments on the capital side, but
[1:05:00] strategic partnerships on the type of
users that we're bringing into to these
[1:05:04] venues. Well, I
for me I think given the age of the
[1:05:09] facility and what we've experienced and
what we know we want it to be having a
[1:05:13] partner willing to be here for five
years, they need the longer runway to to
[1:05:18] make put the heartbeat back into this
place.
[1:05:21] » So, you know, it's performance-based,
which is important, but also it doesn't
[1:05:27] let them escape us. So, they're they're
dedicated to us at this point. Yeah, I
[1:05:32] think this is I'm I am excited for this.
I think this is the right first step in
[1:05:38] in the long future of these facilities
is to um partner with you all who know
[1:05:44] what you're doing um who have the
expertise in the network. I think this
[1:05:48] is a great first step and again like I
said to to make the case that we should
[1:05:52] invest um more financially um and make
huge in capital investments. So, I I I
[1:05:59] am happy that we're going this route
first, and I'm excited because I think
[1:06:02] we all knew there was there was room for
improvement. Um, not that,
[1:06:06] » you know, it was okay, but there was
definitely there's definitely room for
[1:06:11] improvement. You obviously see it as
well um in its existing state with a few
[1:06:16] with a few tweaks um before we get to
some of the bigger investments. So,
[1:06:21] anyway, appreciate it. Thank you for the
um presentation. I look forward to
[1:06:25] seeing all the great things. I going to
more concerts. [laughter]
[1:06:29] » More wheezer.
>> Yeah.
[1:06:31] » Council member Taylor, your button
cleanup.
[1:06:33] » All right.
>> Thank you. Thank you for the
[1:06:36] presentation. Thank you for the time
that you've spent answering all of our
[1:06:39] questions. Um I understand the pretty
high level goal. Correct me if I'm
[1:06:43] wrong, but really what we're looking to
do is refresh these spaces. The hope is
[1:06:47] that we'll obviously drive more business
into downtown Mesa and hopefully
[1:06:50] encourage additional businesses to look
at opening up in downtown Mesa. Really
[1:06:54] activating the entire area is what I
know activating is like the new buzzword
[1:06:58] everywhere. So, I get that, but I tend
to be a little more socratic, so I ask a
[1:07:02] lot of questions. The technical details
just help me understand the bigger
[1:07:05] picture more and it highlights it
generally for the general public. So, um
[1:07:10] I know that you have all of your
projects listed, at least the big ones,
[1:07:13] in the presentation. So, thank you. That
actually answered quite a few questions
[1:07:16] of where else do you have Arizona
locations that you're currently doing
[1:07:20] business in?
>> Um, are those in the feasibility study?
[1:07:23] Did we use those additional locations
that they're doing business in to help
[1:07:27] bolster their their bid for this
project? You know, the success rates
[1:07:32] that you have in Tempe or the Diamond um
uh stadium or the State Farm Stadium,
[1:07:38] like have you presented those so that
you don't I can get that information?
[1:07:42] » Um, yeah. uh Vice Mayor and Council
Member Taylor, part of the request for
[1:07:45] proposals did require that they give us
case examples of areas, things that they
[1:07:50] do that are similar in our size and
nature.
[1:07:53] » Um also, um just, you know, what is
their history over time? What are their,
[1:07:58] you know, what have they what have they
driven? So, it might not be the the
[1:08:01] examples they used in their proposal
might not be the ones that was in
[1:08:04] Arizona. They might be ones that were
more comparable, okay? uh number of
[1:08:07] seats and and square footage and
ballroom size and so forth because those
[1:08:11] are more comparable. But those those
were all provided as part of the
[1:08:15] proposals from all proposers were
required to bring that in. They were
[1:08:18] required to have expertise in this
industry um you know multi-year
[1:08:23] expertise in this industry and and prove
it up through their proposals as well as
[1:08:27] talk to us about anything that may have
gone ary in the past. Were there
[1:08:31] anything that were cancelled um and
those types of things? So those that
[1:08:34] type of background was part of that
proposal and part of what we reviewed as
[1:08:38] a team um for the selection committee
>> and have the have you experienced with
[1:08:43] more boutiquesized
locations? I know our amphitheater is
[1:08:46] obviously not huge but I think it's
pretty cool but per capita our city is
[1:08:50] quite large. So that's a weird kind of
tenuous relationship with how many
[1:08:54] people we have here, how many people we
want to bring in on top of how many
[1:08:58] people we have here. and the culture of
our city is very unique in that I'd say
[1:09:02] Mesa is very very family friendly. So
that would kind of form and shape the
[1:09:05] types of events that we may offer um
additional to events that we might want
[1:09:09] to draw people in from outside cities or
locations. So do you have experience
[1:09:14] with that very unique relationship
between the per capita size, the size of
[1:09:19] the venue and then the culture of the
city?
[1:09:23] Um, yes. I mean, there look, there's um
Philadelphia comes to mind, Pittsburgh
[1:09:28] comes to mind, Grand Rapids comes to
mind. Um, you fairly larger markets,
[1:09:33] maybe not top tier, but that that next
tier where you have to find the right
[1:09:37] niche, right, in in that marketplace.
Um, as I mentioned before, this this
[1:09:43] venue, this venue size is kind of in our
wheelhouse. Um
[1:09:48] » uh if you look at our network and in
some cases um it is the main centerpiece
[1:09:54] venue in that community. Um in other
cases it's in a very competitive market
[1:09:59] where you've got to find that niche,
you've got to establish that niche. And
[1:10:01] that's part of what we talked about with
the city during the process um in terms
[1:10:06] of the types of events, in terms of
things we could do with improvements to
[1:10:09] position us a little bit better um
within that marketplace. But um every
[1:10:14] situation's different. Um we've been
doing this for 45 47 years I think now
[1:10:19] » just a little bit of experience.
>> So it it's um you know again it it's a
[1:10:24] situation where we've worked hard to
achieve the goals of our municipal
[1:10:28] partners. It's finding that right niche.
Um it's it's utilizing the resources we
[1:10:33] have customized to their needs. um the
cities, the states, the counties we work
[1:10:38] for um all have different goals um
objectives and um it's our job to be
[1:10:45] kind of the day-to-day worker bees to
use our our resources to maximize those
[1:10:50] venues while um in this case the city of
Mesa sets the miss and sets the goals,
[1:10:55] approves the budget, approves major
contracts as Candace said. Um so yeah, I
[1:11:00] mean we've got we come in here with
thoughts out of the gate as to what we
[1:11:03] can do right away. um sharing of of
leads and opportunities given the other
[1:11:09] venues we have in the marketplace,
business relationships that we have with
[1:11:13] with premium seat holders at the other
venues or sponsors where they might be
[1:11:18] look looking to do a meeting or a
conference and we could rotate that into
[1:11:21] Mesa. So, it's that sharing of of
opportunities and leads um that's
[1:11:26] central to our thinking here that are a
good fit for this venue. Um, so yeah,
[1:11:31] preconceived thoughts, what we can do
right out of the gate, a little bit of
[1:11:35] living and learning over time as we're
on the ground here working with
[1:11:37] stakeholders, um, learning more about
the venue. Um, so but confidence we can
[1:11:44] » Thank you.
>> We can be successful here.
[1:11:47] » That's very helpful. Thank you. Um, so
[clears throat]
[1:11:50] I had a few other questions. Uh,
I was curious to know just I'm just
[1:11:55] going to trail off that one. What would
you consider a premium act of
[1:12:00] entertainment coming to the Mesa
Amphitheater that might also share over
[1:12:04] to the convention center for this
particular size? Because I I was
[1:12:08] thinking about I was thinking about
Glendale Swift City as everyone called
[1:12:12] it. And I'm like, man, that brought in
literally hundreds of thousands of
[1:12:15] people. It was wild. And I was I was
trying to imagine that's huge
[1:12:20] entertainment. What would that look like
here in our I know that's not who I'm
[1:12:25] thinking of, but just what would
something like that look like? Is that
[1:12:28] even feasible?
>> Well,
[1:12:32] um, Vice Mayor, Council Member Taylor,
um,
[1:12:36] look there the if you're talking about
live entertainment in the amphitheater
[1:12:40] events and concerts, um, you've got to
focus on what makes economic sense,
[1:12:45] right, for for the tourists, for the
artists. Um certainly there's a niche
[1:12:50] that a 5,000 seat amphitheater has in in
that industry.
[1:12:55] » Um we've talked about expansion a little
bit that's come up. Again, we've got a
[1:12:59] live entertainment one of our uh Ralph
Marquetta who's an industry veteran
[1:13:03] who's based here in in the Phoenix
market, knows all the venues, knows the
[1:13:07] market very well, what genres work, um
what doesn't work. um and he and others
[1:13:13] in our live entertainment division were
central to our focus on um some
[1:13:18] thoughts, initiatives, aspirational
thinking that we brought to the table
[1:13:21] during this process. Expanding capacity
of the amphitheater if we can get to
[1:13:25] that point is central to it. um adding
another couple thousand seats, elevating
[1:13:29] the premium experiences, addressing the
back of house positions you much better
[1:13:34] um with the key decision makers in that
world, artists, agents, promoters,
[1:13:38] managers um to bring a higher level of
act to to the venue. So um look, we've
[1:13:45] got we've got our relationships. We've
got um our successful promoter partners
[1:13:51] um Live Nations, the AGs of the world,
but also the smaller independent
[1:13:55] regional promoters. Um, we operate all
of our amphitheaters with an open venue
[1:13:59] policy. We don't want to turn away
opportunities. Um, some some don't
[1:14:03] operate that way where they're more
exclusive to one promoter. Um, but we
[1:14:07] want to work with all promoters. Um, and
we have proven success doing that,
[1:14:11] bringing all genres opportunities to the
table. U, but it's got to make economic
[1:14:15] sense all the way around. And that's why
you've engaged us to be a voice in the
[1:14:19] room as we plan for the future and the
phasing and what's most important. What
[1:14:23] can we do out of the gate? what's going
to take a higher level of investment, a
[1:14:26] little bit more time to plan out. Does
that lead to naming rights
[1:14:29] opportunities, other opportunities? So,
um
[1:14:33] um so we're we're you know, we're we're
looking at all that and and look to work
[1:14:38] work with the city moving forward. But I
think there's also just maybe this
[1:14:42] doesn't answer your question. There's
the opportunity to do events that
[1:14:44] utilize all the spaces, right? You maybe
do those already. Um where you've got a
[1:14:49] convention or a meeting that's going to
have a trade show element, it's going to
[1:14:51] have a banquet element. It's going to be
there's going to be a VIP party or that
[1:14:55] element that could be hosted at the
amphitheater. There could be a live
[1:14:58] entertainment or speaker, a comedian
that could be part of that convention
[1:15:00] that you utilize the whole
>> and what can we do going forward whether
[1:15:05] it's outdoor spaces or other
opportunities again working with other
[1:15:08] stakeholders to elevate that destination
cell for those types of groups so that
[1:15:11] they're not yes they can use the whole
campus. we're providing the technology,
[1:15:15] the space, the service, the food to meet
their expectations, but are there
[1:15:19] broader opportunities outside of the
outside of the complex that would appeal
[1:15:23] to the meeting planners and the decision
makers? Um, and the live entertainment
[1:15:27] side, not to kind of ramble here, is no
>> there's very few decision makers. It's
[1:15:31] not it's a pretty tight ecosystem of
people
[1:15:34] » that determine what shows go where and
how they're routed. Um, and we're
[1:15:39] ingrained in that world. We're we're at
the table in that world. So, um, but you
[1:15:44] got to have the ammunition and the and
the, uh, the arrows and the quiver to
[1:15:48] shoot to land those shows. Um, so our
our thoughts are around, yes, we can
[1:15:53] elevate what you have now, but we also
need to be thinking about the future and
[1:15:56] where we see a niche in this marketplace
that we can take advantage of
[1:16:00] » and that's part of that five years.
>> Yes.
[1:16:02] » Yeah.
>> Okay, that's helpful. Um, will the
[1:16:06] targets and goals that they're setting,
will that come to council or that will
[1:16:09] remain just with staff? Vice Mayor and
Council Member Tenner, that would be
[1:16:13] with staff. That's the administration of
the contract.
[1:16:15] » Okay. And I hate to be like the Debbie
Downer, but if they fail to meet their
[1:16:20] targets and goals within that 5-year
period, what does that look like for us
[1:16:23] as a city? Do we have an out in the
contract? If it's just not
[1:16:28] » the engine is running, but we're not
[snorts] going anywhere.
[1:16:30] » Mayor and Vice Mayor Chandler, we have
we have the out. We always have an out
[1:16:34] in contracts if they're not going the
way we want them to go. Um, and we're
[1:16:38] not talking about just the overall
normal contract of of default on either
[1:16:41] side type of a thing, but if just the
partnership is not working um, going
[1:16:45] forward with with pri proper notice and
so forth and obviously we would have
[1:16:49] worked on it for a long time before we
would have made that decision. Um, but
[1:16:53] there's always that opportunity um to
make sure that we are protecting
[1:16:57] ourselves, our staff, our our facilities
and so forth. So, we always have that in
[1:17:01] every any contract we negotiate.
>> Okay. It's a big pitch to the public,
[1:17:05] you know, and I think it's wonderful
that we're looking at obviously using
[1:17:08] the revenue to reinvest in those
facilities. That's excellent. I was
[1:17:11] super excited to hear that. Um, and that
it's not displacing the burden of all of
[1:17:15] this refreshing onto the taxpayer in
general. So, that was wonderful. I just,
[1:17:20] you know, I have to think through all
the moving pieces. Um, I'm skipping some
[1:17:24] of these were already answered, which
was wonderful. Uh,
[1:17:30] I did have one important [clears throat]
question on slide eight. I know this
[1:17:34] might be part of your in-house
operations. Um, I'd love to hear what
[1:17:39] you consider DEI uh in human resources.
[1:17:48] » Yeah, I think it's um you look we have
specialists in DEI in our in our human
[1:17:53] resources department. So um that could
go into greater depth than I can but um
[1:17:59] you know as a baseline our focus is on
developing our people right um we have
[1:18:04] training programs we have over 120
different training programs different
[1:18:08] languages from customer service training
leadership training um online training
[1:18:13] that all of our full-time people um and
in some cases some of our contractors
[1:18:18] will be uh will be expected to
participate in. Some are some are
[1:18:22] required, some are more optional, but
developing our people um is central to
[1:18:28] to our approach here. We've got um you
know, we talked about the transition
[1:18:32] here. What we've seen over the years um
is a track record of
[1:18:40] um you we talked about the transition
and coming in here and we expect that
[1:18:43] some of the employees are going to stay
on as our employees. We give them more
[1:18:46] tools, more resources to help them do
their job better. Um, and I'm sure that
[1:18:53] will play out here. Um, you know, people
want to be a part of something special.
[1:18:58] People want to be contributors. They
want to be part of a team that's
[1:19:01] successful and contribute to it. So, um,
you know, we will provide them that
[1:19:05] opportunity. Um, so I'm not sure I'm
answering your question, but um,
[1:19:10] » do you receive ESG funds?
>> I don't know if I can answer that
[1:19:15] question, but I can get that answer for
you. Councilman
[1:19:17] » Taylor,
>> thank you. Yeah, I'm excited to see
[1:19:21] where it lands. I think it's going to be
great for the space. I I think the
[1:19:26] public will be excited to see the
amphitheater and the convention center a
[1:19:31] little more lively. I do get asked quite
frequently, do we use our convention
[1:19:35] center? Like, yeah, we do. We do. I I
think the east side doesn't tend to
[1:19:40] traverse over to this area frequently.
>> I'm here.
[1:19:44] » Okay. Do you go to the convention center
often?
[1:19:47] » Uh I used to go for fire school. Yeah.
[laughter]
[1:19:50] » Okay. So, not for a while.
>> Um I think it'd be good to see some more
[1:19:54] events happening there. I'm I'm I'm
imagining big events and I'm hoping we
[1:19:58] get to that point at the end of that
maybe fiveyear period because I've been
[1:20:02] to some pretty cool events at some
pretty awesome convention centers and I
[1:20:04] can see where it can go.
>> So, thank you so much. Thanks for
[1:20:07] answering my questions. I appreciate it.
>> Great. Also, the state of the city is
[1:20:14] also fun to come to.
>> Nice. Yeah. So, so Vice Mayor, I I do as
[1:20:19] as we're wrapping up on on this, uh, it
seems I I just wanted to thank Brad
[1:20:23] Gestner, who's gotten off easy this
morning. He hasn't had [laughter] it,
[1:20:26] but when you when you go into something
and you don't know what you don't know,
[1:20:30] um, you have to go out and find people
who can shepherd you through that. Um
[1:20:35] Brad Brad's history um has been in this
industry uh on the other side of the
[1:20:41] equation, but we went out and and Brad's
been working with us to to help us
[1:20:45] navigate and understand this process
because we needed that uh we we needed
[1:20:49] someone who understood that that side of
the industry to help us guide our RFQ,
[1:20:54] our negotiations, our understandings of
industry best practices and norms as we
[1:20:59] had our our conversations um with with
all the folks who applied for this and
[1:21:04] so just want to thank thank Brad. He's
he he's been indispensable in this
[1:21:09] process and so we've we've appreciated
his uh stewardship throughout all this.
[1:21:13] So thank you. You
>> okay [sighs] Mr. Heredia suggested the
[1:21:18] Purina Pro plan convention center.
[laughter]
[1:21:22] That was me. It was me. Mr. Heredia, do
you have any questions?
[1:21:29] » It's always finding the mute button
that's the hardest.
[1:21:33] No, appreciate it, Scott. No.
>> Um, no, this is exciting and appreciate,
[1:21:39] uh, all the questions have been asked.
Uh, great. I I I also look forward to,
[1:21:45] um, you know, great events happening
there at the amphitheater and the
[1:21:51] convention center. So, thank you.
>> Agreed. I think the fact that we've been
[1:21:55] talking about this for an hour and 20
minutes shows the importance of of
[1:21:59] [snorts]
this for the heartbeat of downtown.
[1:22:03] uh but as an asset that we really want
to maximize. So, thank you so much for
[1:22:07] your time.
>> Thank you.
[1:22:09] » Look forward to working with you.
>> Thank you.
[1:22:14] » Anybody need a break? Are we good?
>> Buckle up.
[1:22:18] » I think we just have one more and then
we have
[1:22:20] » one more and then we have an e session.
So, we can let's see uh
[1:22:24] » we can plow through.
>> Yes, sir. I have 9:30
[1:22:31] meeting offite.
>> Okay. Mr. Adams has a hard stop at
[1:22:35] » Sure. And and I I think Jay can be very
brief on this. It it's um so we can run
[1:22:40] through this very quickly and then um it
it's really just answer any questions
[1:22:45] that council may have about um about the
agreement with Canon Beach and and um
[1:22:51] » Okay. Glad to answer that.
>> Uh so Mr. Adams has to leave at 9:30. he
[1:22:57] has a hard stop.
>> Okay.
[1:22:58] » What does that mean for the e session?
>> We we can continue. I I I also think if
[1:23:04] we can plow through this, uh, you know,
the e session probably shouldn't be very
[1:23:08] long, um, either. So, I I think we'll be
in good shape.
[1:23:11] » We'll we'll see how that works. We will
miss council member Adams if he does
[1:23:14] have to leave but I think we can
[laughter]
[1:23:19] vice versa economic development director
for the city of Mesa and joining me
[1:23:24] today is Sarah Steedman assistant city
attorney attorney and then on my right
[1:23:29] is Ben Snow deputy director for the
office of economic development. The
[1:23:34] purpose uh of what we're doing today is
to talk about the Canon Beach Hotel
[1:23:38] project, which is an upscale hotel
project with a minimum of 130 rooms and
[1:23:44] various amenities including a rooftop
deck, an event space, ground level, hot
[1:23:48] tub, and lawn area, a bar and lounge
connected to an outdoor terrace
[1:23:52] overlooking the surf pool with a
fullervice upscale restaurant. This is
[1:23:57] something that we've been very anxious
for in Southeast Mesa. So, we'll be
[1:24:01] discussing the major terms of the
development agreement, but we'll go
[1:24:04] fairly quickly. So, if you have any
questions at the end, there will be time
[1:24:07] for that. Um, the location is just south
of Warner Road on the east side of of
[1:24:12] Power. The total site for the entire
development is 35 acres and the hotel
[1:24:17] site is just over 1.3 acres. The
proposed development area uh development
[1:24:24] agreement project area again is only for
the hotel development and it's a
[1:24:29] property that's owned by Canon Beach
Hotel. We also have a member of their
[1:24:33] executive team in the audience today,
Joe Codddle here. So if you have
[1:24:36] specific questions for the developer,
he's happy to pop up and answer those.
[1:24:40] This is a sales tax reimbursement for
public infrastructure that's related to
[1:24:45] the hotel and restaurant. So, the
overview of the DA structure is as
[1:24:49] follows. It again, it's a reimbursement
of the taxes up to $950,000
[1:24:55] for dedicated public infrastructure if
the developer completes all of the
[1:25:00] following conditions. 18 months from the
DA effective date, they will obtain
[1:25:04] building permits for the public
infrastructure. 36 months from the
[1:25:08] effective date, they'll complete the
public infrastructure, which must be
[1:25:12] designed, bid, and built per applicable
law. and they'll dedicate the public
[1:25:17] infrastructure as well as the right of
way to the city. Um, plus they will also
[1:25:23] construct the upscale upscale hotel
which is currently a planned tapestry by
[1:25:28] Hilton and they must complete
construction of that and be open to the
[1:25:32] public within 36 months of the effective
date of the DA. So reimbursement for the
[1:25:37] public infrastructure is using uh
construction sales tax that's generated
[1:25:42] from the project and a portion of the
retail sales tax generated by the hotel
[1:25:46] and restaurant. And I'll turn it over to
Sarah. Oop, excuse me. Um, one more
[1:25:51] slide. Uh the proposed property again
the the p the public infrastructure
[1:25:56] that's on Warner Road will include all
of the public improvements which is
[1:26:01] pavement, turn lanes, curbon gutters,
sidewalks, driveways, storm drains,
[1:26:05] signing and striping and and staking and
testing. And now Sarah will go through
[1:26:10] the construction tax incentives
specifically. And just looking at this
[1:26:15] to reiterate, the portions of dedicated
sales tax for public safety, quality of
[1:26:19] life, and streets is not included in
this deal.
[1:26:22] » Correct.
[1:26:26] » Good morning, council. As Jay mentioned,
the public improvements that developers
[1:26:30] required to install along Warner Road
are eligible for reimbursement. The
[1:26:35] maximum amount of reimbursement the city
would pay is $950,000.
[1:26:40] um that's based on the current estimate
of the cost to install the public
[1:26:44] improvements. If it ends up costing the
developer less to put in those public
[1:26:49] improvements, um the actual cost of the
public improvements would be the cap
[1:26:53] that we would reimburse. And the
reimbursement comes from the transaction
[1:26:58] privilege tax that this project
generates the which as you said, Vice
[1:27:04] Mayor, um it's at a 2% rate only the 1.2
to non-dedicated and unrestricted amount
[1:27:10] could be used for the reimbursement. The
first portion of that TPT that we could
[1:27:15] reimburse from is the construction sales
tax. Um 100% of that 1.2% can be used to
[1:27:22] reimburse the developer for the public
infrastructure. So, and that would
[1:27:26] happen as a one-time payment after all
of those conditions are met and the city
[1:27:30] has accepted the public improvements.
The second portion that of the TPT that
[1:27:35] we can reimburse from is the elig um the
retail sales tax and we would reimburse
[1:27:40] 50% of that non-dedicated 1.2%.
This these reimbursement payments would
[1:27:46] happen over the course of the
development agreement which has a
[1:27:49] 10-year term although we anticipate they
will reach the reimbursement cap in the
[1:27:53] first eight years.
And Ben will cover the economic impact
[1:27:59] analysis.
see my light coming on here.
[1:28:08] » There we go. Thank you. So, there are
four statutory requirements. Um, and I
[1:28:13] will share those with you quickly here
per Arizona statute section 9-5001.
[1:28:20] Council must find that the proposed
sales tax incentive of the project will
[1:28:24] raise more revenues than the amount of
the incentive reimbursement during the
[1:28:28] term of the agreement and that the
development [clears throat] would not
[1:28:32] locate in Mesa in the same time, place
or manner in the absence of said tax
[1:28:37] incentive. The second uh requirement is
the statute requires an independent
[1:28:42] third-party review of the council
findings. Third is that ARS section
[1:28:47] 42-610
requires that construction and sales tax
[1:28:51] incentives offered to retail businesses
be provided only as reimbursement for
[1:28:56] public infrastructure dedicated to and
accepted and controlled upon completion
[1:29:00] of the project by the city which which
Jay had mentioned a couple minutes ago.
[1:29:05] And there are also a requirement for
there to be two city council meetings
[1:29:09] which include a notice of intent
resolution and resolutions for approval
[1:29:13] of the development agreement and council
findings requiring a two-thirds vote of
[1:29:17] our council.
>> I feel like we've been done this before.
[1:29:23] » So the third party economic analysis was
performed by applied economics Sarah
[1:29:28] Merley as principal. It includes an
economic analysis and impacts uh summary
[1:29:34] with projected sales tax, city st city
tax revenues, public improvements, total
[1:29:40] economic impact, job creation, annual
labor income and construction activity.
[1:29:45] And the revenues to the city are
forecasted that this project will
[1:29:49] generate significantly greater amounts
of sales tax revenues than the total
[1:29:53] amount of this rebate that's being
proposed um on the order of 10 times as
[1:29:58] much over a 10-year period. and the
final analysis report will be a
[1:30:03] companion document with the the
resolution uh with the with the
[1:30:06] development agreement.
So the next steps in the process here is
[1:30:11] on Monday there will be a notice of
intent resolution that will be placed on
[1:30:15] the agenda for Monday's council meeting
and then on September the 14th that's
[1:30:20] when the development agreement
resolution and the city council findings
[1:30:24] resolution will be placed on the agenda.
>> Okay. So, next meeting's notice of
[1:30:30] intent. There are any questions or
concerns? We have plenty of time to
[1:30:34] answer those.
>> Vice Mayor, just wanted to amplify one
[1:30:37] point that Ben said because
>> I kind of glossed over more than more
[1:30:41] than [laughter]
>> that's all I that's all I
[1:30:43] » Well,
it's upscale luxury hotel first and
[1:30:47] foremost. This is the type of hotel
development I know council is anxious to
[1:30:51] see. So we appreciate the partnership
with Canon Beach on on bringing a high
[1:30:55] quality luxury brand high upper level.
I'm not sure of the industry term, but
[1:31:01] uh we would call it upscale. Sometimes
people will refer to it in the four the
[1:31:05] fourstar arena. Those mean the same
thing.
[1:31:08] » Yeah. So so that's great. And again on
the tax incentive side that this will
[1:31:12] generate more than 10 times the amount
of of this uh investment that we're
[1:31:18] allowing back into this. So it's it's a
great ROI. It's going to make a lot of
[1:31:21] money for the city and uh and and the
hospitality industry um when this hotel
[1:31:26] comes to fruition. So that's it's this
is exactly the type of quality
[1:31:29] development we need
>> same time period.
[1:31:32] » Yes.
>> I I'm Joe I know Joe's out somewhere. Um
[1:31:39] I I'll I'll tell you if you're going to
back somebody uh it's Canon Beach.
[1:31:42] They've been putting their shoulder into
bringing a higher level of quality here.
[1:31:46] I think they did. They steal First
Friday from downtown or they just do a
[1:31:50] new one.
>> We could do a D see who has a better uh
[1:31:55] First Friday and we're going to have a
competition on First Friday.
[1:31:59] » No, they they stole from Phoenix, which
is even better, you know. So, so uh the
[1:32:04] the level of restaurants are bringing in
are all sit down restaurants, which is
[1:32:08] what's people in the entire city have
been asking for, but particularly on the
[1:32:13] east side, you know, we've been asking
for more of these things. And we have
[1:32:16] somebody that's just been running full
full steam ahead on on delivering some
[1:32:21] of that. Sometimes a little faster than
you [laughter]
[1:32:24] perhaps you should, but I've really been
impressed with what's been going on
[1:32:29] there. So when you when you look for a
partner, um this this is one I think we
[1:32:34] would want to pick up on.
>> Thank you, Vice Mayor.
[1:32:36] » Any questions or comments from Yes,
ma'am.
[1:32:38] » I don't have a question, but I just I
wanted to say I was looking up the
[1:32:41] Tapestry hotels and they are so cool. I
was like, I want to go stay in all of
[1:32:45] these. Like all of them have such unique
looks and designs to them. You can tell
[1:32:48] they're pretty immersive. You get a
different experience depending on where
[1:32:51] you are. So I'm I was just excited to
see that that's going to be the style
[1:32:55] coming in. I think it's going to draw in
a lot of excited visitors both locally
[1:32:59] and even from out of town. I mean, Canon
Beach, it's pretty cool. We've been a
[1:33:03] couple times. So, just to look at a fake
beach is awesome. [laughter]
[1:33:08] » Have a beach.
>> That's a I'm going to sit on that
[1:33:11] rooftop and like I don't know, eat some
French fries,
[1:33:14] » live the life.
>> Mr. Adams, I know you have a question.
[1:33:19] » Yes. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Uh I would
just comment I think this is a great win
[1:33:23] by economic development the team there
and uh what I'm recalling is probably
[1:33:28] somewhere between five and seven years
ago when I was a member of the visit
[1:33:33] Mesa board and I believe it was Cole
Cannon who came and presented his
[1:33:38] concept of what Canon Beach and the
surrounding development would be and um
[1:33:44] I would say that from what I've observed
is he has surpassed
[1:33:49] the vision vision that he presented at
that time and um um I think Adam Saxs
[1:33:55] was uh I think Adam's still affiliated
with that. He was a very productive
[1:34:00] member of the visit Mesa board and
continue to forward that vision. So I'm
[1:34:04] I'm very supportive of this. I think
it's a great win for us and I think uh
[1:34:08] these these are folks who delivered
above and beyond what which doesn't
[1:34:13] always happen and folks come and paint a
picture for you. It doesn't always fill
[1:34:17] in, but this one is colored in really
nicely.
[1:34:21] » And I hear they have an absolutely
perfect safety record for shark attack.
[1:34:28] » Good point.
>> Seeing no other questions,
[1:34:33] uh,
>> how many people
[1:34:37] » by sharks?
>> I don't know. That's uh information I
[1:34:40] think they can gather and come back
with.
[1:34:42] » We we believe that number is zero. But
we did run some recent numbers and since
[1:34:46] Canon Beach has been open, I know
today's topic is specific to this hotel
[1:34:50] project, but since Canon Beach has been
open over the last 20 months, there have
[1:34:54] been nearly 1 million visits to the
Canon Beach campus
[1:34:59] » over that period. We need to get these
hotels up. Yeah.
[1:35:02] » Mr. Heredia,
>> did I hear you or
[1:35:10] » No,
>> no, I'm good. Thank you.
[1:35:12] » All right. Thank you, Mr.
Thank you so much for the presentation.
[1:35:15] We'll see you later in the week. Um, I'm
going to fly through this because I know
[1:35:19] we're short on time. Item 2A,
appointments to various boards and
[1:35:23] commissions. Do I have uh council member
Duff, Council Member Adams? All in favor
[1:35:28] say I.
>> I. Item 3A is acknowledge receipt of
[1:35:33] board minutes. Do I have a motion?
>> Council member Adams and Council Member
[1:35:38] Duff. All in favor say I. I.
>> I. Any oppose? Hearing none. Motion
[1:35:44] carries. Did you get those? Yeah. Okay.
Uh we we will talk about what we've been
[1:35:49] doing over our council break maybe at
the next meeting on Monday so we can get
[1:35:53] through this. And um with that, I'll con
u look for a motion to convene an
[1:35:58] executive session to discuss with the
city attorney potential to engage uh
[1:36:05] with a lawsuit. So, Council Member
Goforth and Council Member Taylor. All
[1:36:11] in favor?
>> I. Any opposed?
[1:36:15] Ignoring anybody that said no, we're
going into executive session.
[1:36:48] Mr. [music] Smith, do you have my
motion?
[1:36:52] » I know you wanted me to memorize it, but
>> I can I'll just read it and say just
[1:36:56] read it if you want.
>> Okay, I'll just say that we're uh we are
[1:37:00] reconvened. We are minus uh council
member Heredia was not able to uh
[1:37:08] was not able to rejoin us. So there's
and mayor's uh absent excused.
[1:37:14] So with that, is there a motion to
direct the city attorney to file a
[1:37:18] lawsuit and pursue litigation on behalf
of the city of Mesa against the fire
[1:37:23] apparatus manufacturers the city has
purchased from and to retain legal
[1:37:28] counsel for that purpose as discussed in
the executive session? Do I have a
[1:37:33] motion from council member Adams, a
second from council member Duff? All in
[1:37:38] favor, please say I.
>> I. Any opposed? Seeing none, the motion
[1:37:44] passes unanimously with council member
Heredia and the mayor absent. Very good.
[1:37:51] With that, do I have a motion to
adjurnn? Council member Adams, council
[1:37:54] member Duff, all in favor say I. I. Any
opposed? I didn't think so. We are
[1:37:59] ajourned.
[1:38:07] [music]