The McDowell Group is in the process of preparing a feasibility report on Kenai’s proposed Convention Center which could be released this month.
Koch: “They’re interviewing a number of people, council members, myself, business members of the community and they’ve got a wide range of questions, what’s important about a convention center, where do you think it should be at.”
City Manager Rick Koch said the group asked him about various locations such as the Old Carr’s Mall, areas by the existing visitors center, the area near the Kenai Senior Center and even a place off of Canary Road on the South Beach of the Kenai River.
He described the proposed center which he would like to see as holding at least 400 people…
Koch: “I like how Valdez’s works a lot, it not only operates as a convention center, but it is the emergency operation center for the tanker traffic in and out of Prince William Sound and I think the convention center in Kenai might occupy in a similar kind of role. I spoke with the McDowell Group about that, in the event an LNG plant is here, large scale, there will be similar kinds of requirements I believe.”
We asked if the cities of Kenai and Soldotna are sharing data since both are actively pursuing large convention centers and Koch said not directly as far as he knows but he presumed the contractors collecting data are.