Dacotah Bank planning unveiled

BROOKINGS – The Brookings City Council has taken official steps to repurpose Dacotah Bank Center – formerly the Swiftel Center, formerly the Multiplex – into a mixed-use site for events and recreation, primarily targeted at space for youth sports.

Deputy Mayor Nick Wendell presented the Council with recommendations from a working group to find a new plan for the facility. The Council created the working group after the middle fell out of the live entertainment industry and the center faced major repair costs – meaning the center has been an increasingly volatile red mark on the city budget. The city's contract with the management group that runs the Dacotah Bank Center was also expiring, making time of the essence.

Wendell walked the Council through the group's thinking and charted a course forward with a frequent caveat that the work is still ongoing with various stakeholder groups.

Next Steps

The first order of business – and most urgent – was the contract with Oak View Group, which currently manages the building. The Council approved allowing that contract to end, as well as initial measures to accept all the staff at Dacotah Bank who want to continue in their jobs as city employees.

Wendell stressed that all events booked at the building for 2027 would be honored, and the City Council ultimately approved some funds to explore reworking the building for new purposes.

"It's our intention to have an opportunity for all of those full-time staff members to come with us if they choose to," Wendell said. "The next piece that we're recommending is to support an up to $10 million renovation site. Now, this would include the installation of sport courts in the existing arena space."

Wendell then walked the full Council through the current plans, which includes lots of resurfacing, including some form of sport court in the arena space that could be removed when needed ó for example, for two annual SDSU rodeos and 4-H Achievement Days – as well as the possibility of field turf in the holding barn, which would be usable for offseason or inclement weather workout spaces for youth sports teams.

Wendell also stressed the building did not want to offer gym equipment on a membership model to the general public, in deference to the bustling private gym market in town, nor would it include a pool at this time, due to high expenses, both initial and ongoing.

A survey the city did in the spring in conjunction with several public meetings and council meetings showed residents roughly evenly split: A third wanted to see concerts and events there, a third wanted rec space and a third wanted a hybrid model.

He also said the building could still be used for large community events, such as Brookings High School's graduation.

The Council ultimately approved the first reading of a resolution authorizing negotiation with Oak View Group as the contract winds down, as well as another resolution issuing requests for architectural, engineering and construction manager at-risk services to explore the cost and full scope of such a project.

Working Group

Wendell began his presentation noting the facility has been a source of conversation and debate since it was built nearly 25 years ago. He also noted the working group was operating as though the center was an annual investment the city made into quality of life in Brookings – not as a profit center. That said, the spikes in yearly costs going over a million dollars the last two years could also not continue indefinitely.

The working group went in with their eyes open.

"We know that whatever we do next will, to some extent, be a calculated risk," Wendell said. "We don't know for certain everything that's going to work at the Dacotah Bank Center. We're invested in making it as successful as possible and building a plan that hopefully aligns with as many community members as possible in terms of what can happen."

The working group also secured Placer data, Wendell said, which takes anonymized cellphone location data and allows groups to look at traffic patterns. According to that data, he said, about 16 to 18 percent of visitors to large Dacotah Bank Center standalone events also visited a local hotel.

Wendell stressed that the working group did not hold all the answers, yet, and did not know how much the project would cost.

One sticking point is the two SDSU rodeos are crowd favorites and do draw people to both the center and to the city – but they're hard on the HVAC systems and any flooring option. 4-H Achievement Days have a similar impact with livestock holding, and the full council along with the County Commission will have to reach a solution there.

But the area's youth sports teams would get some indoor space for both workouts and possible tournaments for some, which is definitely needed, especially in the case of the baseball program, which currently has no indoor workout space and starts the season far behind other area teams because of that fact.

Wendell also stressed that while retrofitting the building would cost money, the group was looking to add value to the community for a smaller price tag than a new building would cost.

"I say up to $10 million. I don't think we have a sense yet of what that dollar amount will look like," Wendell said. "We're working to secure private funding that would match, or at least partner with our public investment with somewhere around a million dollar funding goal. So we don't want the whole burden to be carried by the city. We think there is some potential for private funding that could help get this task completed as well.

"I want to remind folks that weíre really excited about the potential to address those indoor recreation needs for a number that's closer to 10 million versus the 30 or 40 million that a lot of communities have had to spend on indoor recreation spaces, and that our own community has considered over the years," Wendell said.