MASON CITY – A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Mason City Monday for the multi-purpose arena project.
Artist renderings were unveiled as part of the ceremony, which took place at noon at the former JC Penney location in Southbridge Mall. Construction has already began on the arena, with demolition going first. Ice events and activities will dominate the use of the arena, and no one knows the cost nor the time involved in transitioning the arena from ice use to accommodate other events, like a concert.
Mason City residents are familiar with artist renderings in connection to the Renaissance Project, which the arena is a key component of. Beginning in 2013, renderings of a proposed downtown hotel were leaked to the public. The hotel morphed into the Renaissance Project, with supposedly 5 key pieces: Arena, hotel, skywalk, museum and pavilion. It could cost nearly $40 million to build in its entirety, if the project actually goes fully forward. Today, artist renderings of the arena and the latest rendition of the hotel were leaked.
Mayor Bill Schickel claims numerous construction jobs and at least 100 permanent jobs will be created as a result either this project or the entire Renaissance Project. You can watch his statement made Monday morning, below, also.
HOTEL RENDERINGS:
ARENA RENDERINGS:
GOOD MORNING, MASON CITY! (A BIG DAY) pic.twitter.com/vBQi4nCFKD
— Bill Schickel (@billschickel) February 4, 2019
Hey Mayor when will you release any info about the 200 jobs that you keep bragging about. You say the first 100 jobs during the construction phase and then 100 permanent jobs when construction is finished. Where can I get the applications?
Can someone please indicate how much money the Hockey Association actually has raised to date? My family is willing to set aside a few bucks to donate but need to determine if this is even feasible or will there be fund raisers for the next decade.
Thanks
Maybe it will give you old No Change Duck Lucks a free cup of coffee and a place to get your afternoon walks in when its cold outside. Shut up and take your nap
What about all the bands that will play there to keep the young people in MC? Yeah right
If you think this is a well-planned project you must be The Mayor or one of the Cronies involved.
They had to build this now, or the MCYH was going to pull out of this deal.
1060 people showed up to vote on this project and 600 voted yes. The figure in the crooks and the dirty officials into the equation Calculates to 100 cons dividing $40,000,000 that Mason City residents will be paying back for the next 40 vears. This money could and should be spent on bettering our community.
The Mayor promises 100 permanent jobs paying $9,000,000 in earnings. So do we go to the City Hall to get the applications for the 100 jobs paying $90,000 each? What are the job titles? Whats the benefit package look like? Who exactly is handling the hiring process? Will there be any education or qualifications necessary? The more information about these 100 careers the better.
Where’s the hotel? Where is the final deal on the hotel so they can get the financing? Without the hotel they lose millions of dollars. I can’t believe the started this fiasco without finalizing the deal. What a bunch of dumb asses/.
In the Ariel view it shows grass and tree’s to the west and south of the Midas garage eliminating the main entrance and the four bays. In the black and white drawings it shows a flight of stairs leading up to a cat walk that appears to have no seating or any purpose. The mayor claiming the project is going to bring one hundred permanent jobs. What are the jobs? How much does it cost currently to heat and cool the mall and the Museum? How is any of this possible? Every detail of the entire plan should be posted for the people of Maso City to read since we are the one’s paying for it.
You forgot to mention how THEY shoved this mess down our throats without any public ideas or input, or that nobody will benefit from this except for MCYH and they have NOT come up with the $2 million they promised, or that we have NO agreement with the hotel or state funds, or that it was sold as no tax money needed but that has changed and it WILL cost the taxpayer plenty!
A huge shout out to the Globe Gazette for promoting this fantastic opportunity.
Thanks to the great former mayor Eric Bookmeyer and outstanding past council members for their great vision of the future of Mason City.
And now the first-rate backing by the tremendous current mayor, Bill Schickel and the current council members.
And what more can you say about the MCYH organization for their awesome work on this project.
And I would be remiss not to mention the colossal backing & support from the CoC’s Robin Anderson
and Mason City Foundation’s president, Dalena Barz.
And all of the rallying by Loni Dirksen.
The future will be much brighter for Mason City now!!!