Cultural Park development still in works

Completion could take three years or more

By Tommy Acosta, Associate Editor

SEDONA, AZ (June 11, 2009) - Plans to revive the Sedona Cultural Park on 89A and Cultural Park Place are still alive and kicking, according to developer Monty Fitch of Fitch Industries.

Presenting an update on Fitch Industries' effort to purchase approximately 44 acres of land where the crumbling remnants of a five-thousand seat amphitheatre once heralded as a class-act venue for drawing national acts to Sedona still stands, Mr. Fitch made it clear at the Tuesday, June 9 City Council they are moving forward.

“We are working hard on this project and we are working for a smooth approval,” Mr. Fitch said. “We are looking to submit an application in August and we are looking to find ways to move this project forward with the city.”

Despite Fitch's continued effort to convert the cultural park into a commercial enterprise featuring a conference center, 210 dwelling units, a performance theatre, art galleries, an arts village, a senior-citizen community, a wellness center, a museum and a trimmed-down amphitheatre to draw national acts, he estimates at least another year and one half before groundbreaking at the site. He said construction could add another two years to the time frame and that his company's original plan and design for the Cultural Park has not changed.

“None of this is new,” he said after the Power Point presentation of building designs and renderings for the project.

The Cultural Park, a dream for many citizens who saw it as a Mecca for performing arts that would bring to the city culture and great performers, opened for business in May of 2000.

By 2003, financial challenges and the inability of the owners to fill 5,000 seats took the dream down and the Cultural Park closed for business.

In 2006 Mr. Fitch and his brother Kent Fitch, announced they were in the process of acquiring the property and applied for a zoning change for the site that would allow them to use it for commercial purposes as well as cultural purposes, as was the original intent and zoning for the site.

Their argument was commercialization was the only way to make it work financially, due to the failure of the previous owners to keep it going.

City staff argued against the Fitch proposal because of the potential impact a commercial enterprise would have on the cultural premise for the park’s existence.

However, in November 2007 the council voted to allow Fitch Industries to move forward with the first phase of their project.

The project still requires major zoning changes for completion and must pass through the various city-regulatory layers before being brought to council for approval.

Since last year, Mr. Fitch said he has been working behind the scenes to move the project forward.

“We’ve been working with a lot of people on this,” he said. “We have our architects working on the specifics of the design. We are talking to the film people, the museum people and arts people. We are working on our wellness center. We are moving forward.”

Council members responded positively to Fitch’s update.

“I asked for this presentation because a lot of people thought you had dropped off the face of the earth,” Mayor Rob Adams said to Mr. Fitch. “I’m really glad you are still around.”

Vice-Mayor John Bradshaw welcomed Mr. Fitch back.

“Glad you are still here and not gone,” he said. “I still feel this could be a good project for Sedona. I think when it is finished it is going to be something Sedona could be proud of.”

Councilwoman Nancy Scagnelli raised the spectre of the faltering economy’s impact on the project.

“My concern is with a project of this size and the economy, how will you do it? Can you elaborate?” she asked.

Mr. Fitch said now is the perfect time to launch such a project.

“We’ve been talking to a lot of people in the industry,” he said. “Right now is the best time to build. There is cheaper labor. There is cheaper material. This is the time to make our deals. If you have means, this is the time.”

He said he believes the economy will turn around by the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011 and if they move forward and break ground within a year, everyone benefits.

“If we begin construction one year from now, we will open on the cusp of the turnaround,” he said. “People in the hotel and resort industry are not investing. When the economy turns around it is going to take them at least three years to ramp up again. There will be a shortage of resorts and destination places for at least three years after the turn around. We will have a conference center that Sedona really doesn’t have now. Part of our goal here is to share it with the populace.”

Councilwoman Scagnelli said she hoped Mr. Fitch was right.

“So do I,” he replied.

According to Mr. Fitch, financing the project in this bad economy has been a challenge but that he was assured he would acquire a loan.

“Our investors are building a trust platform,” he said. “In April we got notice they are confident they are moving forward with the loan. This made us confident to move forward with our architects.”

He said the global economy is affecting everything financially and past paradigms for acquiring funding no longer apply.

“History doesn’t matter with what is happening in the world,” he said.

Mayor Adams asked how much of a chance there was the loan would actually go through.

“What will you say the odds of getting funding are,” he asked.

Mr. Fitch made certain everyone in the council chambers heard his reply.

“One hundred percent,” he said.