Provo convention center grows to three stories as plans mature

PROVO — A planned downtown convention center will be three stories tall, with an outdoor plaza on top and a street-level plaza on the corner of Center Street and 200 West.

Those are some of the plans being solidified as Utah County acquires property to build the convention center, Commissioner Steve White said Tuesday during a work session with the Provo City Council.

The county is combining the properties it has acquired with land owned by the Provo Redevelopment Agency. Officials are eyeing other properties on the block along 300 West and 100 South for expansion in the second phase. So far, the county has spent $3 million acquiring land for the convention center, White said, in addition to the properties designated by the city for redevelopment.

Among them is the Atchafalhya, a restaurant, bar and dance club that 10 years ago was known as LeMar's Nightclub, a topless bar. After a lengthy court case with the city, LeMar's dropped the battle and the dancers.

That space may become a small, street-level plaza.

Of the seven initial plans, one called the Mason Dixon because of its north-south orientation on Center Street has seemingly bubbled to the top. The plan includes an exhibit hall on the main floor and an 18,000-square-foot ballroom on the second floor, with a 30-foot-high ceiling, White said. Third-floor plans contain a rooftop terrace.

"This is not an option," White said. "This is what we are going to do."

The building will have both underground and surface parking, which in the first phase is expected to cost between $2.5 million and $3 million. Historic buildings will be preserved.

A skybridge crossing 200 West to the Marriott Hotel is still in the plans, White said, "but it depends on what Marriott wants to pay for."

Businesses next to the planned convention center that fail to fit the desired ambiance would be relocated, White said.

The convention-center price tag could be as much as $40 million, which White said exceeds bonding capability. The county is looking using funds from other types of existing taxes tourists pay, which could eliminate other funded programs for as long as six years. A county-appointed board will make those recommendations.

"We'll need help from the city to keep the costs in line," White said.

That includes making Provo a co-applicant in its construction, which would allow it to waive most building fees.

But first the county wants to move the Mountainland Community Health Clinic from 200 West to State Street, across from the Provo city cemetery. It also plans to relocate the Food and Care Coalition from 200 West to the East Bay area, where the organization has built a new building to house all of its services that are now spread out on the downtown block.

e-mail: rodger@desnews.com