Mayor, CAO, and architect proudly present new sketches.
By Dan Schroeder
The atmosphere was cold but festive at the downtown Ogden Amphitheater last night, with families coming to see the Christmas Village while children’s choirs sang on the stage.
And, as promised, the
Field House “open house” piggybacked on the festivities with foam board displays on either side of the amphitheater entrance.
There were four displays in all, each guarded by a high-ranking city official (mayor, chief administrative officer, public works director...). But the displays were mostly redundant, each dominated by the same pair of fresh architectural sketches of the Wonder Dome’s upper and lower levels.
To the side of each set of these large illustrations was a separate board listing the amenities for a prospective user group: “Athletes”, “School kids”, “Families”, and “Senior’s” [sic].
There were also two tables full of iced Christmas cookies, inexplicably failing to attract much attention.
Attendance was dominated by a handful of true believers and a smaller handful of skeptics. City Council members Gochnour and Garner were there, rubbing elbows with administration members and constituents alike.
I made no attempt to interrogate the mayor, but I did ask quite a few questions of the architect, Dan Van Zeben. He explained that the sketches are oriented with north upward, so 24th Street would go across the top and Grant Avenue (to be vacated) would go right up the middle. The east side of the Wonder Dome would wrap around the Berthana Building, while the west side would displace the vacant building on the southwest corner of 24th and Grant as well as some land belonging to the Marriott Hotel.
According to Mr. Van Zeben, parking for the Wonder Dome could be provided by adding more levels to the existing parking structure to the east, and building a new parking structure on the city’s parking lot behind the Marriott.
I asked Mr. Van Zeben if he had made any cost estimates for the Wonder Dome and he said yes, his current ballpark estimate of the construction cost is $28 million. This includes demolition of existing buildings but not land acquisition or parking. Council member Gochnour said she had heard a somewhat higher cost estimate, but it wasn’t clear whether that estimate might have included some items that Van Zeben was omitting.
Mr. Van Zeben also confirmed that he has received no compensation for his services related to the Wonder Dome over the last three years. I asked whether he has other contracts with the city and he said not at the moment, although he did do some work related to the renovations on the east side of Washington Blvd. Then he mentioned that he has recently been hired as the architect for the
Kevin Garn Hot Tub Hotel. Although his client is Western States Lodging, he is hoping to be hired by the city as well to design the parking portion of the building. He is unsure whether the city will have to go through a competitive bidding process to hire its architect.
Update 12/17/10 5:30 a.m.: The
Standard-Examiner carries its own morning story too:
• Ogden field house plan reviewed
Update 12/17/10 7:40 a.m.: Here is a very rough overlay of the Wonder Dome footprint on an aerial photograph of downtown Ogden. It appears that the building's eastern wing would reach all the way to Kiesel Avenue. The city would have to acquire property whose total assessed value is about $1.8 million, from five different owners (Pingree, Alvey, Cutrubus, Century Investments, and H & P Investments):
