Event Center Drama, in Technicolor

Previously on “Event Center.”

“I'm sorry, mayor, but unless you can meet our terms, I'm afraid we can't sell you the Crowne Plaza ... .”

“Oh, yeah? No sale, huh? Maybe we'll just take it. Ever hear of eminent domain?”

“Gasp ... you wouldn't dare ... .”

“Try me. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will stop the Event Center.” (Cue ominous theme music)

OK, maybe it's no “Mad Men,” but the Event Center saga is getting pretty dramatic.

And on Monday, we finally got some telegenic pictures to illustrate the city's grand plans.

Schematics of the new center, and upgrades to the exterior of the Crowne Plaza and U.S. Cellular Center, were shown off at a news conference. Lots of glass and stone, clean angular lines. Blue skies above, always.

Dan Thies of OPN Architects said his firm incorporated various architectural styles found in the downtown area, traditional and modern. The result is handsome and functional, and much more practical than fancy, sort of like the city where it's being built. The window-washing bill, however, will be large.

And you can't miss the big faces, which I suspect will elicit big opinions. Thies said designers are thinking about wrapping the U.S. Cellular Center, that big gray bunker along I-380, with mesh screens showing a changing series of faces of the people of Cedar Rapids, larger than life.

“Have you seen that building in Cedar Rapids with all the faces on it?” Thies said, dreaming of what a passing motorist might say. It could also be, “Those big faces freaked me out, and I lost track of how fast I was going. That's how I got a speed camera ticket.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Ron Corbett and his squad are putting on their game faces in the struggle to take over the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel. The hammer of eminent domain is now being wielded with hopes of breaking an impasse with the hotel's owner, CWCapital LLC. It might work, or it might turn into courtroom drama.

One glance at the schematics shows why the hotel is pivotal. It looms in the midst of the project, connected at the hip to nearly everything. Leaving it as-is would deal a serious blow to the Event Center's prospects, so it makes sense for the city to prepare the heavy legal ammunition. There's no turning back now.

And city ownership may be the best route to finding a new, private owner. If a motivated buyer such as the city, which already owns the land, can't come to terms with the current owner, what's the chance a private investor could? After years of turmoil, the hotel needs a reset.

I think, in the end, (spoiler alert) they get the hotel. But first, drama.

Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@sourcemedia.net