Arena's economic impacts estimated:
Louisville's downtown arena has helped generate more than $100million in nearby investment and construction, according to an economic impact analysis released Monday.
The report, issued during the Louisville Arena Authority's monthly meeting, acknowledges that it's hard to determine the factors behind those projects but said next year's opening of the arena at Second and Main streets “certainly has played a major role.” ...
The arena, along with other downtown investment, played a role in White Castle's $850,000 expansion of its aging restaurant at First and Market streets, said Eddie Smith, the company's regional director of operations. ...Other projects cited as proof of the arena's economic impact include a $1million renovation of The Gillespie, a venue rented for weddings and other events at 421 W. Market. But facility director Ashley Knight said Monday that the arena was not a factor in the renovation. “None at all,” she said. ...
The $7,000 report was produced by Louisville's CityVisions Associates, a consulting firm run by Barry Alberts, former executive director of the Downtown Development Corp., and Bill Weyland, an architect and developer who is a partner in the Whiskey Row Lofts — one of the projects included in the report. The Kentucky State Fair Board, which will oversee the arena's daily operations, paid for the study.
Arena authority chairman Jim Host welcomed the report's findings.“This project is not only alive and well, but it is generating the economic impact that we said it would,” he said.
As far as I know the vast majority of peer-reviewed studies finds that a new arena (or stadium) has no positive (or negative) economic impact. I'm always puzzled by the need felt by those receiving public funds to justify them with an economic impact study.
Update: I forgot to mention yesterday that the $100 million in economic impacts, at least those mentioned in the news, are costs, not benefits. Costs are the time and money devoted to producing something. Benefits are the outputs (goods, services) that make people happy.
