El Paso community invited to discuss 8,000-seat Cultural and Performing Arts Center

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — The City of El Paso hosted a community meeting to receive input on the proposal for the Multipurpose Cultural and Performing Arts Center.

The current proposal includes building a center with a capacity of 8,000 seats in the area of the old Union Depot building off Paisano Drive.

The city council was expected to take a vote on the site selection back in February but decided to postpone the vote to allow for more community input.

RELATED:El Pasoans voice concerns over multi-purpose center location in Union Depot

At least 30 people attended Wednesday’s in-person meeting while others participated online.

Louie Lozano, a resident of El Paso was present at the meeting and he shared he does not believe the Union Depot is the best location for the project.

“The Union Depot is good but I think it's a little constricted in my opinion and parking would be a little bit too much.”

Lozano added he would prefer Site C, one of the four top contender locations, which proposes building the MPCC next to the city’s convention center.

“It’s more strategically located with more of the amenities like for example, the street car runs next to it. I like that and because people can seamlessly go to the civic center, convention center,” said Lozano.

Mike Fakir, a promoter with Leonnus Entertainment agreed the Union Depot is not the right location for the project as he sees parking being a major issue.

“As a promoter, I want to provide an experience and that experience literally starts from the minute they leave their home to come to an event, park, they want a nice easy, smooth entrance into the venue,” Fakir said.

Daniela Quesada, an architect for the City of El Paso was present at the meeting to answer questions and concerns from the public.

Quesada said people have been asking why the city has to move forward with the project and why it has to be located within the Downtown footprint.

Quesada responded the following: “Council, it's up to them to decide whether we move forward with the bond or not."

Quesada added, “we cannot site this facility anywhere outside of Downtown, that is something that has also been decided by council through ordinance and so we are confined to the Downtown boundary area.”

KFOX14 obtained the agreement between the City of El Paso and MountainStar Sports, the company in charge of the Chihuahuas Baseball Park.

The contract includes a clause which states in part:

...The City should not develop, finance, or facilitate the development of any other outdoor concert venue in Downtown that will compete with the baseball park...

In response to the clause Quesada said the city would not be violating any part of the existing contract.

“They are not attracting any similar types of events so they are at no point competitors for the same market which is why this has never been an issue, the consultants were well aware of it, we are not under any breach of contract when it comes to that.”

Quesada added city staff will be presenting the input gathered from the two community meetings to City Council this upcoming Tuesday as the council continues the discussion of a project location.

Below you can read the assessment report:

RELATED:City to host community meetings on proposed multipurpose center site selection

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