Vadnais Heights sports complex turns profit under county management

24 July 2015

A year after Ramsey County snatched up the Vadnais Sports Center for less than half the price it cost to build, the previously beleaguered arena appears to have turned a corner.

County officials report the 200,000-square-foot multisport complex yielded a profit the past year and is earning positive remarks from tenants. Expenses will jump next year, though, as the county begins to pay off its debt on the building. Officials aim to find new revenue in the facility's underused dome to keep up with rising costs.

"We think it was a great year, and a conservative year," said Jon Oyanagi, director of parks and recreation for Ramsey County. "We just focused on maintaining the customer base and learning a new facility, especially the dome, which was totally new to us. We're well versed in ice arenas, though, so we expected that to go well."

The county bought the Vadnais Sports Center in June 2014 for $9.8 million, a substantial markdown from the $26 million it cost a nonprofit organization to build the arena in 2010 with bonds backed by the city of Vadnais Heights.

Promoted as a project that would pay for itself and clean up a blighted corner in the northern suburb, the arena failed to yield enough revenue to cover the nonprofit's costly bond payments, leaving taxpayers in Vadnais Heights on the hook for the shortfalls.

The city ended up sinking upwards of a million dollars into the center before bailing out of the arrangement in August 2012, leading Standard and Poor's to dramatically drop the city's long-term bond rating. Vadnais Heights remains embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit with the sports center's former manager, Mark Bigelbach, who was fired after audits uncovered sloppy bookkeeping. The case is set for trial in late August.

The arena, which houses two sheets of ice and a dome-covered turf field, was put on the market in the summer of 2013, leaving some tenants wary of its uncertain future.

Those concerns didn't follow it in the sale, county officials said.

"We got to start over July 1 (2014) with a clean slate," Oyanagi said. "The connotation has been that this was a troubled arena, but really the trouble was with making the debt payment. ... Now that that's gone down, the problem's gone away. ... The facility's always been well-utilized."

In its first year under county ownership, the center yielded just under $1.5 million in total revenue, similar to what it made the year the complex opened in 2010.

Its expenses hovered around $1 million, substantially less than in years past. That number will climb to $1.7 million next year, with the bulk of the jump going toward the $450,000 the county will pay off on its outstanding debt on the building. Those costs will continue into the future.

The county hopes to increase revenues by about $200,000 in its second year to help cover the jump, largely by finding creative ways to use the sport center's dome, which sits basically empty over the summer months, according to Joe Bergquist, manager of the sports center.

"We're looking at some adult softball and soccer leagues for the fall and then next year we're actually researching doing sports camps at the dome. ... We think there is good opportunity there," Bergquist said.

The sports camps would be multifaceted, teaching kids the basics of a rainbow of activities, including soccer, badminton and Tuj Lub, a Hmong top-spinning game.

The county is also considering running healthy food programs for kids in the space.

Meanwhile, ice rentals are running smoothly, Bergquist said. The White Bear Lake and Mounds View school districts' boys and girls hockey programs use the center as their home rink, as does the Maplewood Figure Skating Club. White Bear Lake Area Hockey Association and the White Bear Soccer Club are other core users, as is B.E. Emerson Prep Academy.

Ice time is also snatched up during the summer for hockey camps.

Kevin McFarlane, president of the White Bear Lake Area Hockey Association, praised the county's management.

"It's been much better than the previous years. Management is easier to work with, more personable, and the place is actually staffed correctly now," McFarlane said.

Sara Pederson, club administrative director of the White Bear Soccer Club, said she's also noticed improvements.

"This is our first season working strictly with Ramsey County, but we're hoping it all shakes out well," Pederson said. "Now we have confidence that the (arena) will be here going forward."

 

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