Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Andrea Pendergast The Phoenix Park area could be one of the spots being looked into for the development of a new convention center.

Hours before Democratic presidential hopeful Barrack Obama spoke in Zorn Arena last month, a long line of people waiting to get a seat stretched across lower campus and up Garfield Avenue hill.

The arena, which holds 3,400 people, filled to capacity leaving almost 1,000 outside, unable to get in, and still hundreds more didn't even bother to show up, because they knew the venue would be too small, said Eau Claire city councilman Brandon Buchanan.

After this large turnout, he said the city rekindled its previous discussions about the city's need for a larger civic center in the downtown area.

As Eau Claire continues to grow, the need increases, he said, and while the community may not have needed one years ago, it is a larger regional player now.

"More and more people are thinking if we are going to act like a bigger city … we need to have those real city amenities," he said. "We're having to turn down bigger proposals because there's no space."

Senior Matt Carter said he thinks a new civic center would be beneficial politically.

"Maybe another type of (politician) would come, because it would hold more people," he said.

Freshman Pa Vue said it just makes sense to build a new center.

"Eau Claire is getting bigger by the second, so it would be better for us as a community and a state as a whole," she said.

Buchanan said right now there isn't a specific location or proposal, but as the city focuses on the downtown's redevelopment, they will closely consider putting a center there.

Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich said that location would be great for the university, since it needs to be within certain geography from campus so people can go back and forth.

"We're not interested in developing something around the mall area or out in Chippewa Falls. It has to be pretty much downtown, Water Street or the Hilltop area for us to be a party to any of these efforts," he said.

A larger center would allow the university to hold one large graduation instead of several small ones in Zorn Arena, provide a better facility to play basketball in and hold concerts, he said.

Continued...

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