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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: February 15, 2005 <br />Action Agen~da~ <br />Item No. <br />SUBJECT: Staff Update on Possible Acquisition of the Triangle SportsPlex <br />DEPARTMENT: Manager/Purchasing/Finance PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />None <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Rod Visser, ext 2300 <br />Pam Jones, ext 2652 <br />Ken Chavious, ext 2453 <br />TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Hillsborough 732-8181 <br />Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br />Durham 688-7331 <br />Mebane 336-227-2031 <br />PURPOSE: To receive an update from staff on ongoing assessments related to a potential <br />Orange County acquisition of the Triangle SportsPlex, with particular emphasis on <br />considerations related to potential ownership structures; and to consider increasing by $10,000 <br />the Board's appropriation for professional services needed to carry out the assessments, <br />BACKGROUND: In Fall 2004, the Board of Commissioners directed staff to perform due <br />diligence analysis regarding the County's potential interest in acquiring the Triangle SportsPlex <br />property, The County's interests relate not only to recreation opportunities, but also to a <br />proposal to construct the new Central Orange Senior Center in conjunction with an expansion of <br />the SportsPlex. The SportsPlex is an 82,000 square foot facility in the Meadowlands Business <br />Park in Hillsborough that provides a regulation ice rink, three swimming pools, fitness <br />equipment, and other recreation amenities, The County operates a small senior center in <br />rented space on property immediately adjacent to the SportsPlex property. <br />The County has an existing ten-year facilities/service agreement under which the County <br />provides payments of $400,000 a year to the SportsPlex to support the availability and <br />affordability of the swimming pools, and other recreational opportunities to citizens of Orange <br />County. The ten-year agreement expires at the end of March 2005, Staff have been working <br />with the agent for the SportsPlex owners for several years to examine options upon the <br />expiration of the ten-year agreement. <br />Since early 2004, staff have been working to develop a proposal that would involve the <br />construction of an expansion to the existing SportsPlex building. That expansion and a <br />reallocation of some existing, underutilized square footage within the existing building would be <br />used to provide 15,000 square feet of dedicated space for a Central Orange Senior Center to <br />