City extends contract with firm operating Cross Insurance Center
The Bangor City Council voted to extend the city’s contract with Spectra Venue Management, the Philadelphia-based firm that has been operating the Cross Insurance Center since the $65 million venue opened in 2013.
The City Council voted in favor of extending the contract, which was set to expire in 2018, due to the success that the ticket services and box office management company has had. City officials told the Bangor Daily News that the relationship has exceeded their expectations.
“It is the consensus that this was a wise investment and that we have a solid partner,” Council Chairman Sean Faircloth told the BDN. “Much of the credit also goes to [the general manager], but we see significant return on investment.”
Since the venue opened, it has drawn over than 745,000 attendees, hosting 646 events running the gamut from bull-riding competitions, to high school basketball games and concerts.
“All these acts we’re seeing [coming to Bangor] are really telling the story,” Faircloth added.
In that same period, Spectra produced a net operating income of $21,000 — all of which goes directly into Bangor’s Bass Park Fund.
The success of the venue was not expected when the city hired ERA/AECOM in 2009 to investigate the economic feasibility of constructing the new venue to replace the aging Bangor Auditorium.
The study projected a net operating loss every year, and for 2015, specifically, a loss of $228,000. Instead, the Cross Insurance Center netted $42,000 during that period.
The extended contract with Spectra runs until 2021, with the city paying $125,000 for an annual management fee, with the option for increases based on the Consumer Price Index annually.
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