Business owners at The Banks aren't happy about proposals to put a new arena elsewhere.
The Banks' Tracy Schwegmann read an open letter from 20 of those businesses such as Taste of Belgium, The Holy Grail Tavern and others at a news conference Wednesday.
The statement says the presence of the arena is vital to businesses at the 15-year-old riverfront development. It also challenges a Cincinnati Chamber study that found a modern facility wouldn't fit on the Heritage Bank Arena site. She also noted that massive investments in infrastructure at The Banks make it a competitive site for a new arena.
"Based on current construction estimates, the new arena at The Banks would cost less than the estimated $675 to $800 million for venues in other locations and reported in the [Chamber's] study," Schwegmann said.
That study from the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber suggested the site of the current CET building on Central Parkway or land west of Downtown to be freed up by the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project as the best places for a new arena.
RELATED: Chamber report says Cincinnati needs a new arena
The study dismissed the Heritage Bank Arena site because it suggested the footprint couldn't accommodate a more modern, 18,000- to 20,000-seat arena the Chamber says is necessary to lure top-tier events. Schwegmann and business owners say an earlier study suggests otherwise.
That's important because a new arena could draw as many as a million visitors a year, up from the 600,000 Schwegmann said Heritage Bank currently draws. And those visitors help keep the lights on at businesses next door, restaurant and bar operators say.
"It's pretty cold and dark in the month of January, and the arena makes a tremendous difference," Schwegmann said. "When the Reds and the Bengals aren't in season, the arena is hopping. If that goes away, you'll probably see businesses go away, in all seriousness."
The Chamber and other supporters of building a new arena have said that Heritage Bank is too small and outdated to attract marquee events that could boost Cincinnati's national profile and bring in increased tourism dollars. But no decisions about a location for a new arena — or how it would be paid for — have been made just yet.