PEORIA, Ill. – Many people say that the Peoria Civic Center is a drain on taxpayers, no matter how successful the Civic Center is.
Civic Center General Manager Rik Edgar tells the Peoria City Council, however, that’s not necessarily the case, as it’s both a tax-paying, and tax-receiving, body.
“We pay more than $1 million in taxes directly from our events,” Edgar said Tuesday. “So, while often it is seen that we are given tax money to run our venue, we actually contribute more in taxes that come back to that (Hotel, Restaurant, and Amusement Tax) then we actually take in.”
Edgar says Fiscal Year 2023 was the first year that the Civic Center has paid back more than $1 million in taxes – through the sale of food and beverages, ticketed events, and merchandise. Of that, a little more than half went to the city, with the rest going to the state.
While Fiscal Year 2023 was seen as a record revenue year for the center, will that continue? That’s a big question mark, as Edgar says it’s about to get more costly to get some of those acts to come here – and no, not because of inflation – something he calls revenue “compression”.
“With expenses going up on tours – gas costs more, bus drivers need more, the cost of food going up – everything’s going up. But, the amount of seats we have in the theater and some of these smaller events don’t increase. And, we’re also getting pressure to keep prices low,” said Edgar.
Edgar says that means some shows will have to be eliminated from the market. What’s more, he says some groups no longer travel with their own sound and lights, instead opting to have those rented locally – and that could become a venue expense.
Edgar says it’s not as easy as getting $20 million in bond money from the City of Peoria to get the ice-making plant in Carver Arena fixed, and keep the Peoria Rivermen as long-term tenant.
Edgar says he and the Rivermen have agreed to keep quiet about their ongoing negotiations after a short-term extension was agreed to, it may still be awhile before the ice plant can be replaced.
“One of the challenges with that is the supply line chains are a year out, and we had a deadline this year, if we wanted to do it next summer,” said Edgar. “So, now, we are looking at the summer of ’25 to close the venue to do the ice.”
Edgar says the arena is currently closed while renovations to lower bowl seating take place, and Bradley University has requested that the scoreboard be replace. He says it will be, and that the current scoreboard will be repurposed for use outside the arena.
He says one major project that has been completed is a roof replacement, so there should be no more leaks in to the Civic Center.
Also on the infrastructure front, Edgar says the glass arcade area needs to be redone, in part because it’s not being used the way it was planned.
“It was really meant to be a pass-through, and we now use it as a functional space,” said Edgar. “Some of the challenges are, it’s not climate controlled, so it’s a little challenging when we have, like (Illinois Music Education Association Conference) in February, and everybody has to wear winter coats to walk from one room to the other. So, these are things we’d like to address with the revision.
What’s more, Edgar tells the city council the foundation in the area will also have to be dealt with.
It could cost as much as $40 million to redo the glass arcade, and likely wouldn’t be worked on for another couple years.
CLICK HERE for Edgar’s full presentation to the Peoria City Council (.pdf).
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