By Howard Packowitz
NORMAL – A Normal Town Council member, who’s seeking reelection next year, is “very interested” in continuing to explore the idea of a Twin-Cities multi-sports complex.
Kathleen Lorenz said it’s the only economic development opportunity in the area right now that’s a revenue generator, in the form of sales taxes from athletes and their families who would spend money at local businesses.
Lorenz understands her constituents might feel sticker shock when they learn an indoor-outdoor complex would cost an estimated $43.6 million.
“A place like that attracts people who are coming for a particular tournament, and they have to eat, and then maybe it rains and they go to the mall, and they have to fill up their car with gas,” Lorenz said.
“All of that translates into sales tax revenue,” she said.
Lorenz is seeking reelection on a platform that includes supporting economic development that broadens and diversifies the tax base.
She said taxpayers got their money’s worth from a Florida consultant’s study, in which Bloomington, Normal, and the area Convention and Visitors Bureau shared in the $47,000 cost.
“They did a very broad study of what already is here, and because of their very deep understanding of youth sports tourism on a nationwide basis, they have a pretty good understanding of what might even be in the pipeline regionally, and they took those ‘what ifs’ into account,” she said.
Lorenz appreciated the study was purposely conservative, projecting the complex would not host more than 15 tournaments a year.
She said private sector investment will be needed to help fund the complex. The consultant recommended 16 outdoor fields, a dozen of them lighted and with synthetic turf. It would also include a 130,000 square foot dome with room for five multi-purpose fields or two full-sized youth baseball and softball fields.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
