 he
arena portion of the $74 million Mid-America Center in Council
Bluffs is ready. Crews have been busy completing the finishing
touches to what will be the new home for the
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The new Mid-America Center will host its first event this Friday, October 18th. |
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River
City Lancers hockey team. They will play their season opening game
in the new arena this Friday, October 18th.
Construction on the 7,500
seat multi-purpose arena and convention center began in June 2001.
Although the adjacent convention center will not be totally
completed until December of this year, people can take a
self-guided tour of the arena during an open house October 20th
from 11am to 6pm.
The arena which seats
6,900 for hockey and 8,000 for other events already has two other
major events scheduled. The USHRA Monster Jam will be a
3-day event starting on Friday, November 1st. Then on Friday,
November 22nd, the arena will host a concert by John Mellencamp
with special guest Alice Peacock & Band. Tickets for the
Monster Jam which runs from Friday through Sunday (Nov 1 - 3) are
$17.50 for adults & $6.50 for kids 2-12. John Mellencamp
tickets are $45 each. You may purchase tickets by calling
402-422-1212 or visit the Mid-America website at MidamericaCenter.com.
Construction for the complex has been funded by the
casino-supported Iowa West Foundation and a
Vision Iowa grant.
Additional contributions to the project were made by Harrah's Casino, the Southwest Iowa Foundation and the City of Council Bluffs. It is being managed by Philadelphia-based SMG, an
internationally known management firm of public assembly
facilities.
The convention center
which opens in December has a 25,000-square-foot exhibit hall and
23,000 square feet of meeting space plus space for a ballroom. An
adjacent retail plaza and 16-theater cinema are also under
construction. In addition, ground was recently broken for a
133-room hotel that will be connected to the convention center by
a covered walkway.
The Mid-America Center,
that sits near the junction of Interstates 80 and 29, may soon
have other new neighbors to the west. Plans are being developed to
build a $12.1 million water park that will feature a 62-foot high
tower slide, a wave pool, an 850-foot lazy river plus a beach
area, picnic pavilion, arcade and retail area.
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 Proposed Water Park will feature a 62-foot high tower slide. |
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The
Council Bluffs Planning Commission recently approved the
development plans for the 20-acre-plus park that will sit south of
24th Avenue between South 32nd and South 33rd Streets. Those plans
will still need to go before the Council Bluffs City Council for
approval.
Funding for the project
will once again come from the casino-based Iowa West Foundation
along with other local and out-of-state investors. Horizon
Amusement Group of Gold River, CA will develop the park.
Horizon, who has built a
similar park in Hawaii and consulted on many others, hopes to
begin construction yet this fall although it is more likely work
on the project will not begin until next Spring with an opening
date of Memorial Day 2004.
The park will be open
each year from mid-May through mid-September. It is expected to
employ around 110 mostly seasonal workers. Although it will be
more compact than Oceans of Fun in Kansas City, the tallest rides
will be higher than anything else in a 200-mile radius.
These projects, along
with a recent proposal to build a new amusement park near the
South Omaha Bridge Road suggests that Council Bluffs, Iowa just
may be the new Entertainment Corridor of the Midwest.
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