El Paso voters to decide future of arena money in November election

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information.

El Paso voters will have a chance in November to decide whether the city should continue to work on building a Downtown multipurpose center with the remaining money from a 2012 bond issue or stop the long-delayed project.

The City Council voted 5-3 Tuesday to put a measure on the Nov. 5 ballot asking voters if they want to revoke the $128 million in unsold bonds left from a $180 million bond issue for constructing what was originally proposed as a large arena in Downtown El Paso.

The city also has another $34 million in cash from bonds sold earlier for the proposed project. City officials did not say what would happen to that money if voters revoked the unsold arena bonds.

Voters approved the $180 million bond issue in 2012 to build a large Downtown multipurpose center in Downtown. What city officials sold for years was that an arena with 10,000 to 15,000 seats would be built with the bond money.

However, legal battles and other problems have prevented the city from proceeding with the project. City officials now say building a large arena would cost well over $400 million.

“I think it’s time that we to ask the public if they want to proceed,” South-West city Rep. Chris Canales told City Council. “And if they choose to revoke the bonding authority. . . . the city can take the steps necessary to end the project as proposed.”

But if voters decide not to revoke the bonds, then the city can continue to try to develop a project, he said.

More: It’s time to ask the voters if they still want a Downtown arena: Chris Canales

Canales, along with City Reps. Brian Kennedy, Art Fierro, Henry Rivera and Joe Molinar voted to send the issue to voters. Reps. Cassandra Hernandez, Isabel Salcido, and Josh Acevedo voted against the measure.

Canales, Kennedy, and Fierro put the item on Tuesday’s Council agenda.

Mayor, City Council reps say voters deceived by 2012 bond

Fierro, Molinar and Mayor Oscar Leeser said voters were misled by city officials in 2012 that a large arena could even be built for $180 million.

“The voters were misled that you could build one for that kind of money. And today it would cost probably, and I know that we have talked about this, close to $400 million,” Leeser said.

East-Central city Rep. Hernandez said sending the issue back to voters is disrespectful to those who approved the bond issue in 2012.

“We already have a contract with the voters, and it is our duty to fulfill that contract. We have to be bold, we have to put forth a plan, otherwise its disingenuous to ask the voters what do you (voters) want to do with the money,” Hernandez said.

City spent millions of dollars on arena project

Millions of dollars were spent buying properties in the Duranguito neighborhood in the Downtown Union Plaza District as the long-proposed arena site, noted Hernandez, one of several people running for mayor in the November election.

Kennedy, the West Side city representative also running for mayor, did not speak during the debate.

A years-long court battle kept the city from moving forward with the Duranguito site, and in January 2023, City Council voted to abandon that site.

The city spent $13 million to acquire properties in Duranguito and about $5 million for legal and consulting fees, Interim City Manager Cary Westin told the Council. That money came from $52 million in bonds already sold for the project.

Union Depot plan not supported

The last city proposal for use of the remaining bond money was to build a $143 million concert venue at the city-owned, 13-acre Union Depot site in Downtown, not far from Duranguito. The venue was to have 4,000 indoor seats and a capacity for an additional 4,000 spectators in an outdoor lawn area.

The City Council did not proceed with that proposal after it encountered opposition from business leaders and others who saw it as too small to attract major music acts and not doing much for Downtown redevelopment.

More: Sun Bowl concert project likely dead after missing El Paso County’s proposed bond list

Canales said putting the issue before the voters “seems to be the logical next step if people don’t like the city’s best (existing) proposal” at the Union Depot.

“The reality is we have to act now if we want this to be on the ballot in November,” Canales noted.

City Council’s next step is to approve language for the proposed ballot initiative on the bond money question. That has to be done by at least the council’s Aug. 13 meeting because the state deadline for putting measures on the November election is Aug. 19, said City Attorney Karla Nieman.

City Rep. Isabel Salcido asked the Council to delay its action on the bond election until the city attorney’s office could bring the specific ballot language to City Council. But Salcido’s motion to postpone action was rejected by the same five city representatives who voted to send the measure to voters.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at 915-546-6421; [email protected]; @vickolenc on Twitter, now known as X.