New Arena for Bangor, ME

[portlandneedsnewarena]

Check it out at www.bangordailynews.com

To bad Portland couldn't do the same instead of wasting the time and money for a remodeled Civic Center that in 15 to 20 years will need to be replaced w/ a new one anyways.

http://bangornews.com/news/t/city.aspx?articleid=158984&zoneid=176

[grittys457]

The thought of Bangor getting a new arena before we do makes me want to vomit
on my keyboard. That is all.

[Lrfox]

Having been to both the Civic Center and Bangor's Civic Center, i can safely say both are in dire need of replacement. Portland's doesn't fit the area well at all, and feels like a small concrete box, but Bangor's is worse. It's awful. it's understandably small, but those wooden seats and weird "V" shape give it a horrible layout. The place is a joke. Good for Bangor, hopefully Portland will get the same treatment soon.

[Corey]

Good for Bangor. As a University of Maine (THE University of Maine, not USM) student for 2 years (between 2005 and 2007) I recall Bangor being a very depressing place. They need a lot more than a new civic center, but they have to start somewhere. I assume that most concerts and events that come to the area will still go to the university though, which has their own area and a very nice auditorium. And a lot of college students with extra money.

[portlandneedsnewarena]

In today's Bangor Daily News www.bangordailynews.com there is an article and conceptual drawings for the proposed New 70 to 80 million dollar Bangor Civic Center / Convention Center. I will be surprised if the folks in Bangor spend that amount of money even though a good portion of the cost will come from money that the City gets from Hollywood Slots.

[Corey]

^ http://www.bangordailynews.com/story/Greater-Bangor/Bangor-quoted-80M-for-arena-civic-center,159417

Looks interesting. The sky bridges seems kind of odd and unecessary. I see parallels to the issue we have in Portland, from the BDN article:



Resident Jerry Turner, one of a handful of audience members who spoke at Thursday?s meeting, summed up the collective mood of the room.
?It?s time to make a decision,? he said. ?You have played with this toy long enough.?

[portlandneedsnewarena]

^ http://www.bangordailynews.com/story/Greater-Bangor/Bangor-quoted-80M-for-arena-civic-center,159417

Looks interesting. The sky bridges seems kind of odd and unecessary. I see parallels to the issue we have in Portland, from the BDN article:
I believe that the sky bridge connects to the multi level parking facility at Hollywood Slots which is pretty much directly accross the street.

[Corey]

Bangor voters approve new arena

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Bangor-voters-approve-new-arena.html


By a margin of 3-to-1, voters Wednesday approved plans for the $65 million, 8,000-person arena with adjoining convention center.

[portlandneedsnewarena]

You can view the drawings and layouts at www.arenayes.com Click on; Explore The Facility. Impressive facility.
It's a shame that Portland can't build a NEW Arena. Renovating the Civic Center is not the way to go. I doubt the voters of Cumberland County pass the 28 million bond issue to renovate next November.

[Patrick]

Looks smaller than the civic center, but it has more seats?

[portlandneedsnewarena]

Looks smaller than the civic center, but it has more seats?
It has 5,800 fixed seats, retractable seating that seats another 1,000+ and an overall stated seating capacity of 8,050 (that would include floor seating for concerts).

[Patrick]

Nice! The commercial is funny.

[mainejeff]

I'm happy that the arena passed, but the arena seats 5,800......period. Arenas don't list seating capacities based on folding chairs on the floor or "possible" concert capacities based on certain configurations. I think that a complete oval with permanent seating all the way around would have been the way to go. $65 million for 5,800 seats seems a bit high.......7,500-8,000 seats with ice making capability from day 1 would have been the way to go. I think that they will regret going as small as they did.........but Maine never seems to have much of a vision for the future.

[portlandneedsnewarena]

I'm happy that the arena passed, but the arena seats 5,800......period. Arenas don't list seating capacities based on folding chairs on the floor or "possible" concert capacities based on certain configurations. I think that a complete oval with permanent seating all the way around would have been the way to go. $65 million for 5,800 seats seems a bit high.......7,500-8,000 seats with ice making capability from day 1 would have been the way to go. I think that they will regret going as small as they did.........but Maine never seems to have much of a vision for the future.
Without a full time hockey tenant (AHL or QMJHL) the ice would be far to expensive and wouldn't be used enough to pay for itself. It is very doubtful that the Greater Bangor area could support either an AHL team or a Quebec Major team. Also, UMaine has very little reason to play at a new Arena in Bangor when they already have the Alfond that has similar seating capacity. Why would UMaine pay substantial $$ to play at the Bangor Arena. Financially it would make no sense. So without a full time hockey tenant, it is doubtful that you will see them put in ice making anytime in the near future.
I agree as far as the full time seating capacity is concerned. I would have liked to have seen at least 7,000.

[mainejeff]

Here's an updated picture of the progress that has been made on this facility:

http://www.cianbro.com/Portals/1/Graphics/Homepage%20Banner/bangorsteel2.jpg

[Corey]

^Looking good! The Cianbro webcam for the project is here (http://www.cianbro.com/ProjectsMarkets/CommercialInstitutional/BangorEventCenter.aspx). I've always enjoyed keeping up with the construction of buildings, especially sports areas. Is anyone on this forum in Bangor? We could use a correspondent in Maine's 3rd largest city (Lewiston is #2).