Special Bd. of Aldermen — 11/26/2018 Page 2
Mayor Donchess
Alright Mr. Chair, well thank you very much. | was going to take a minute to explain what we have
accomplished to date and where we are and then why it is that we need the Resolution that is proposed before
you.
First of all, the bond issue passed back in March of this year so that was about 8 months ago. For the first
couple of months we were working on acquiring the building and the building was acquired in either late April
or early May sometime around then.
The next thing that occurred is that we formed a Steering Committee by resolution and we appointed and
confirmed members of the Steering Committee to help us oversee the project. Members of the Steering
Committee include members of the Board of Aldermen, community members, downtown people and citizens
as well, of course you approved all of this. We engaged Betsy McNamara as a fund raising consultant; she
has worked previously for the Nashua Soup Kitchen, for the Capital Center for the Arts and other significant
fund raising efforts throughout New Hampshire.
Over the course of several months she developed a fund raising plan, a plan of action, she also interviewed a
number of potential donors and activists around the community. She has reported to you that she is very
optimistic about her fund raising goals and more recently has been talking with potential major donors who are
interested in donating to this project. She reported to you that the way a successful fund raising effort
proceeds is that you start with the large donors, the largest donors, maybe as much as $1 million dollars and
then proceed on out from that to the medium sized then smaller donors.
We also engaged a New Market Tax Credit Consultant because we said from the beginning that part of the
money that we could raise or obtain from outside the City from non-City sources were New Market Tax Credit.
We engaged Neil Cannon who has also reported, | believe, directly to you and has indicated that he is very
optimistic that we can obtain an allocation of New Market Tax Credits sufficient to bring in $4 million dollars in
cash; that would come from private sources to whom the tax credits would be sold. New Market Tax Credits
have been successfully used in many communities in New Hampshire to build publicly spirited projects in
Concord, in Keene, in Manchester and this project fits well within the criteria for the New Market Tax Credit
Program.
We put out an RFP for architects and about 11 or 12 architects from all over the East Coast submitted
proposals, the Steering Committee reviewed those proposals and decided to interview 6 architects. Those
architects were interviewed, they had some very exciting and interesting ideas; some changes to the concept
plan that was developed by Duncan Webb that could make the project a stronger one. We can discuss the
details of what they have suggested, but the final architect has not been decided upon or recommend to you
yet. The meeting is on December 3" to go through the discussion and to see who the Steering Committee will
recommend.
In addition we put an RFP for construction managers to manage the project; we got again around 10
proposals. We interviewed 4 construction managers and again those selections will be discussed at the
meeting on December 3” and we will recommend to you or the committee will recommend to you the
construction manager that the feel will be most successful with respect to this project.
We put an RFP regarding venue operators and we received a proposal from Spectacle Management, a very
qualified and experienced operator who could oversee the project who is extremely optimistic and believes that
contrary to what we might have thought, that this venue can be operated in a way that would require no
subsidy whatsoever and, in fact, might turn a slight profit. We know that other venues in New England do that
like the Palace; they operate on a break even basis every year. Other successful venues around New England
are in Concord, in Lexington, in Lowell, even in Londonderry and the operator is very optimistic that we can
equal or exceed those results and run a very successful Performing Arts Center here in Nashua.
