Public/private partnership makes sports dome a reality - Rice and Arlington Sports Dome, St. Paul, Minnesota

Driving up Rice Street just north of downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, it can be seen looming on the horizon like a low-flying cumulus cloud. Its billowing white roof towers over the surrounding ball fields, demanding a second look from passersby.

What has attracted the gaze of countless St. Paul residents and visitors alike is the Rice & Arlington Sports Dome, St. Paul's newest year-round athletic facility. Although it took almost a decade for it to be built, the dome now stands as a symbol of what can happen when dedication and commitment overshadow skepticism and doubt. It is proof that a partnership between city officials and private entrepreneurs can result in an athletic facility that pleases everyone involved.

The 90-foot-tall dome opened for business on February 27, 1997, none too soon for winter-weary Minnesotans aching to run a few bases or practice their swing. Although the city of St. Paul owns the dome, Inside Sports, a St. Paul-based company initially formed for the purpose of having the dome built, leases the facility and manages its day-to-day operations.

Soon after opening last winter, several softball, soccer, and baseball leagues were formed to play in the new dome. In addition, the dome is used for private lessons, clinics, parties, and batting practice. The playing area of the dome features a full-size softball field with a 330-foot, straight-away center and two soccer fields that are 50 yards wide by 60 yards long. The soccer fields can also be played on lengthwise, creating a field 100 yards long by 60 yards wide.

Jerry Freeman, who owns Inside Sports with Steve Winfield, brother of former Minnesota Twin Dave Winfield, says the idea for the dome was born in 1988.

"No one in the area had built a facility like this ... on this scale," Freeman says of the 102,000-square-foot dome. "We thought there was a tremendous amount of demand for a facility of this nature."

Freeman says the intention in forming Inside Sports was to build a dome that could house full-fledged baseball, softball, and soccer games -- not just another golf dome. He adds that adapting to play in the enclosed environment of the dome has been much easier than expected.

"It's actually exceeded our expectations, as far as the interior space," Freeman says, referring to the quick vertical rise of the side of the dome. "Everyone who comes into the facility is in awe."

The St. Paul-based architectural and engineering firm Toltz, King, Duvall, Anderson and Associates (TKDA) provided the preliminary designs for the dome; the city of St. Paul prepared the performance specifications. Bearing in mind that winters in Minnesota do eventually end, the dome has been designed so that the high-strength polyester fabric can be dismantled in the summer to allow for open-air play. TKDA also provided the designs for a clubhouse to be located adjacent to the dome, which will house batting cages, a concession area, a pro shop, an office area and restrooms.

"The whole project is one of a kind. This was really unique," said Bill Armstrong, TKDA's project manager for the dome complex. "The city is providing a great asset to the community, especially league players and young athletes."

Building a Public/Private Partnership

Freeman said the late 1980s and early 1990s were spent courting potential investors and investigating several sites for the dome. However, it became apparent that the funds needed to construct the dome envisioned by Inside Sports would be difficult to raise privately.

As Freeman continued to brainstorm on ways to finance the dome, Inside Sports opened a sports training center in a former Furniture Barn building located a few blocks from the proposed site for the dome. Although the training center had batting cages and offered private lessons and clinics, it lacked the space for full-fledged games to be played.

Refusing to give up on his dream, Freeman decided to approach Janice Rettman, then a St. Paul City Council member, with the hopes of working with the city to build the dome.

Because the city had never entered into a public/private partnership like the one proposed by Freeman, Rettman recalls some members of the council were uneasy about the proposal. Concerns about how the project would be funded and the fact that three existing ball fields at the Arlington Fields site would have to be sacrificed to build the dome weighed heavily on the council. However, Rettman said the potential profitability of the dome and the unique opportunity to provide St. Paul residents with year-round recreational opportunities galvanized the council.

"I wasn't about to walk away from it," Rettman says. "It's something very good. We're going to have winter softball leagues for the first time in St. Paul!"

The St. Paul City Council approved the height variances and permits needed to construct the dome in 1992. However, a lawsuit filed by the owners of neighboring apartment buildings, who claimed the variance that was granted was unlawful, caused construction on the dome to be delayed for three years.

Although the courts eventually ruled in favor of the city, the delay in the project boosted the price tag for the dome from $3 million to $4.1 million. The bulk of the cost of the dome is being paid through the sale of industrial revenue bonds. The revenues generated by the dome will go to pay off the bonds.

Having worked closely with Inside Sports over the past several years to make the dome a reality, Rettman says her confidence in the potential success of public/private partnerships has been bolstered.

"I'm very pleased with this partnership," she says. "Five years from now, it will be a common occurrence in St. Paul.'

COPYRIGHT 1998 National Recreation and Park Association
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