Council orders study as River Center south portion struggles; staff eye hotel/motel tax for improvements

Council and staff discussed the financial performance of the River Center and Adler Theater and next steps to improve utilization and revenue. Speaker 4 said the Adler and Mississippi Room are doing well but the south portion of the River Center is struggling; staff reported personnel changes at Venue Works and that the city engaged an outside firm to evaluate improvements and provide line-item cost estimates for priority upgrades.

Speaker 6 and other council members discussed potential funding strategies including using available hotel/motel tax fund balance and targeted surcharges; Speaker 4 noted the hotel/motel tax fund has historically subsidized the River Center (a $655,000 subsidy was reported for FY25) and said the city will receive a menu of options from the consultant to inform council decisions.

Separately, council asked staff to analyze downtown parking ramps ramp-by-ramp (pass holders vs transient parkers) and bring back actionable options: staff said some ramps (e.g., River Center Ramp) are nearly full while others underperform and that a ramp performance review will be presented soon.