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Tallahassee Civic Center


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17-20 mens games with crowds that often resembled the Tigersharks or, on a good night, the Titans (except for the annual Duke contest).

15 or so women's games, which I cannot imagine made the civic center any money.

Graduations.

What else does FSU do there? There were more people there to see Dora the Explorer than there are when the men's team plays Winthrop and South Kentucky State A & M.

Certainly, the men's bball team is the feature performer there, but I don't think it is quite that close to an FSU facility just yet (though I wish that would happen so that we could build a civic center more in line with an area our size).

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I think what makes it an FSU facility is the control FSU exerts over it. Clearly this is the case. We just need to make it official. But I'm not at all in favor of scaling anything down as Bahmo suggests. I don't think for one second that Tallahassee is shrinking in size, and nothing about her should shrink. Its as if saying, "This road is too wide, not enough cars drive on it, we need to shrink it down to size." If anything the excess space is good for future growth. What needs to happen is a facility makeover. Changing the seats, painting the walls, putting tile on the roof on the outside, tinting the windows a different color, spruce up the landscaping, improve the lighting.

I understand what you're saying about FSU's events being 80% of the activity at the Civic Center (if infact that's the accurate number). What I was hoping to get from you was a possible source for the debt you say the Civic Center is in and the possible impact it would have on our taxes if FSU had not done anything to help out. You said keep the center "afloat"? It just seems to me, with the Civic Center being a government facility, it would not sink.

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TJ,

I am not expert on the Civic Center finances. Here is what I do know based on past readings.

One, the COT Civic Center is one of the few in the state that actually breaks even. Apprently, it is not common for Civic Centers to make much money. I am not debating that, it is just something I have read before. Being a 'govt faciltiy' doesn't mean it can't be a dredge on taxpayers dollars. I am very conscience on what wastes tax payers dollars. Luckily, our civic center does not (as noted above that), but if ours did not make a profit (as many/most do not) it would be (because you have to pay the mortgage, salaries, maintenance, etc). The fact that FSU has so many events there, allows the COT to afford the facility without being a burden to it's taxpayers...which is a good thing.

One point of note, FSU has invested well over $25 Million into the civic center for improvements.

I don't have strong feelings one way or the other....but I am not that much of a fan of the civic center. It is not a bad facility, but it is not a great (or even a good one) one either. I wish FSU had it's own facility. But it doesn't have the land to build one or the money. So it is what it is now and it could be a lot worse for everyone.

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Check this out:

Pensacola has recently replaced the "multi-colored chairs of yesteryear" with new Purple chairs for a more uniform presentation. The old chairs had been in place since 1985, so they were probably as old as the hard chair's we've got at our Civic Center. I've been told the Pensacola Civic Center is smaller than ours, seating somewhere between 5,001-10,000 patrons, but they're ranked #1 Venue of size in Florida by Venues Today Magazine. It was also ranked as #4 venue of its size Nationally by the same publication.

The company, SMG, that runs Pensacola CC also runs Jacksonville's Veterans Memorial Arena which also earned a #1 ranking in its class, and Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee which came in at #2.

It may be interesting to explore uniform colored seating at our Civic Center. I understand alot of the changes at Pensacola's center were sparked by Hurricane Ivan, but we need to keep up.

Pensacola's Cost: $850,000.00

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I always thought they used multi-colored seats to give the appearance of bodies in empty seats. This was just my thought. Is there any truth to that?

Sounds like from what you found out TJ that we need to get SMG to run our civic center pronto!

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  • 5 months later...

I was in a KCCI group meeting last night when a member made a point in reference to the Civic Center stating that she felt it should be torn down and re-built. I share her passion for wanting more and better for Tallahassee but I think the Civic Center has the potential to look good without being torn down. I still maintain we should paint it white in the fashion of the Florida District Court of Appeals building, do a Mediterranean style roof like the Bloxham Building, or Leon HS. The exterior would also need some artistic lighting features, and the interior would need a red-carpet makeover. Loose the FSU stuff, and lets dress the place up with some Native American/Florida Heritage/Natural Habitat/Florida Government stuff. FSU would then build it's arena somewhere around the Campus Sports complex. How's that for a rebirth!

Here's a picture I took of the Civic Center looking toward downtown from the west.

skylinelookingeastgs8.jpg

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I was in a KCCI group meeting last night when a member made a point in reference to the Civic Center stating that she felt it should be torn down and re-built. I share her passion for wanting more and better for Tallahassee but I think the Civic Center has the potential to look good without being torn down. I still maintain we should paint it white in the fashion of the Florida District Court of Appeals building, do a Mediterranean style roof like the Bloxham Building, or Leon HS. The exterior would also need some artistic lighting features, and the interior would need a red-carpet makeover. Loose the FSU stuff, and lets dress the place up with some Native American/Florida Heritage/Natural Habitat/Florida Government stuff. FSU would then build it's arena somewhere around the Campus Sports complex. How's that for a rebirth!

Here's a picture I took of the Civic Center looking toward downtown from the west.

skylinelookingeastgs8.jpg

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I'll agree that it needs a MAJOR facelift, if not to be demo'd and completely rebuilt. However, I dont think there should necessarily be decor of the things you mentioned. The sucessful modern day arenas tend to focus on the luxury and appeal of the arena itself (see AA Arena, Staples Arena, etc) Also, I dont think Tallahassee could support two seperate arenas, could they?
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