City Gets No Proposals to Lease, Buy Covelli Centre
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- No parties responded to the request for proposals to purchase or lease the Covelli Centre by Friday's 4 p.m. deadline, the city's finance department reported.
The city sought proposals from parties interested in potentially leasing or buying the city-owned arena, which opened in 2005. According to the finance department, parties that asked for copies of the RFP included the Western Reserve Port Authority, Phantom Fireworks, downtown developer and parking lot operator Lou Frangos and Comcast subsidiary Global Spectrum, Philadelphia, which had submitted a proposal to manage the building in 2008.
The city's five-year management agreement with the Covelli Centre's executive director, Eric Ryan, and his J.A.C. Management Group LLC, and Philadelphia-based SMG expires Dec. 31. Ryan handles day-to-day operations at the arena.
"We're continuing to do what we've been doing at the arena and looking forward to talking to the city about a long-term management agreement," Ryan said.
Ryan took over management operations at the building after the city severed its ties in 2008 with Global Entertainment, the firm it hired to develop the arena, explaining that the building continued to operate at a loss. Under Ryan, who has succeeded in booking high-caliber acts including pop superstar Elton John, those losses have been reversed and the building has operated profitably in recent years.
Sam Covelli, owner of Covelli Enterprises, a franchisee of Panera Bread and O'Charley's restaurants, has expressed his desire to continue his firm's naming rights agreement with the arena if Ryan continues as manager. A one-year extension of Covelli's naming rights deal expires next month.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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