Chamber hopes study will put new life into conference center plan.

Byline: CITY BEAT/SPRINGFIELD By Jim Feehan The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - The notion of a conference center in Springfield may be gaining traction once again.

The Springfield Chamber of Commerce is asking for $25,000 from the city to help study ways to build a new conference center, probably in the Gateway area.

The chamber is also asking for a part-time staff person and help from the city's community development manager, John Tamulonis, to move the project forward. The money is available in the city's economic development reserves, Tamulonis said.

Various Gateway-area businesses have ponied up a total of $70,000 for the study. Contributions include $25,000 from health insurer Pacific Source Health Systems; $15,000 from hotel management company Sycan B/Insight Hotel Management; $15,000 from the Convention & Visitors Association of Lane County Oregon; $10,000 from PeaceHealth, which is building a medical center in Gateway; and $5,000 from the Springfield chamber.

The chamber is also seeking contributions from Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, which is building a call center in Gateway, and Symantec Corp., which has a customer service center there. The total cost of the study is expected to run from $125,000 to $150,000 and be completed by mid-2006, Tamulonis said.

The idea of a conference center in Springfield has been kicked around since the mid-1990s. Most recently, two years ago, the chamber and CVALCO hired a Maryland-based development consulting firm to draft a downtown plan that included a 40,000-square-foot convention facility next to Island Park. The city never acted on the idea.

But a sense of urgency was imparted last year when the owners of the Clarion Hotel in Gateway demolished the structure and replaced it with retail space. That eliminated the Clarion's 12,500 square feet of conference space.

`We certainly need (a conference center), now more so than ever since we lost the Clarion,' Tamulonis said.

Earlier this month, the City Council discussed building a conference center similar to the one in Davis County, Utah. Since opening in September, the 31,000-square-foot facility has covered monthly debt service and has exceeded projections for usage and cash flow for every month by at least 2 percent, according to information provided by Davis County staff.

The Eugene-Springfield metro area has several major conference sites, all in Eugene. They include conference rooms next to the Hilton Eugene and at the Valley River Inn. The Lane Events Center serves as the main convention facility in the metro area, but it is old and lacks any adjoining hotels.

Money matters

The City Council will take up a cost-of-living adjustment addendum to City Manager Mike Kelly's contract. City staff recommends that Kelly's contract, which expired Jan. 30, be rolled over with a 2.6 percent cost of living adjustment (about $3,700 annually) to his current base salary effective July 1. The new annual base pay would be $142,406.