The Broomfield City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to end the management and operations contract with the 1stBANK Center due to years of underperforming and underutilization.
Originally known as the Broomfield Event Center in 2006, the 1stBANK Center was intended to house events from minor league hockey and basketball games to concerts and other community events. But since its inception, the event center has underperformed, according to city and county staff.
The center was built to host 180 to 190 events per year, according to the city and county staff’s presentation during Tuesday night’s meeting, but peaked in 2016 when only 33 events were held. In 2023, the center has seen only 10 events thus far.
In addition to underutilization, the event center has proved to be a strain on the local police department and emergency services. Since 2016, there have been 738 medical calls to the event center.
1st Bank Center is owned by the Broomfield Urban Renewal Authority and was constructed for $45 million, financed by $59.8 million in bonds. The current outstanding balance on the bond is $34.2 million in principal and, in total, by the time BURA pays off the event center bond, it will have paid approximately $135 million.
BURA signed a contract with PEAK Entertainment, which runs the event center, through 2024, but council has decided to terminate the contract early.
Council previously suggested terminating the contract, demolishing the building and selling the land, which is likely what will happen next. Other options were explored from utilization by CU sports teams to conversion to a retail or restaurant hall, but all other options proved financially infeasible.
With the termination of the contract, operations at the event center will be discontinued by Sept. 30 and PEAK will vacate the building by Nov. 30.
Despite the contract termination, city and county staff seemed optimistic at the meeting about the future of the land.
“We are feeling very optimistic that we will be able to take that land and do something that will bring us into the future,” City Manager Jennifer Hoffman said.
