*** Wenatchee Arena is riverfront plan centerpiece ***

Wenatchee, Washington -- 10/07/2005
Next time you head down to Riverfront Park,
take a good, long look around, because in a
couple of years you may not recognize it.

City officials and private developers Thursday unveiled plans
that within about two to five years could replace the Riverfront
Park Ice Arena and the industrial buildings that skirt the park
between Fifth and Ninth streets with seven-story buildings filled
with condos, retail shops, restaurants and apartments.

A little farther north, a $30 million sports arena and events center
with two ice rinks and seating for 5,000 to 7,000 would fill 9.2
acres north Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse.

Private local developers, a Phoenix-based sports-arena
-management company and the city said they'll make it happen.

But some $37 million in funding for the arena and a proposed
new road to connect Worthen Street with Walla Walla Avenue
remains uncertain. Some land deals also are not yet final and no
building permits have yet been issued, according to city officials.

The mood at Thursday's announcement was,
nevertheless, overwhelmingly upbeat.

"We're very positive and have a great outlook of what the
outcome will be," Wenatchee Mayor Dennis Johnson told
about 100 Wenatchee Valley decision-makers gathered in
the lobby of the Bank of America Performing Arts Center
for the announcement.

Here's what they heard:

•Malaga developer Ken Blodgett of Blodgett Construction
Associates said he'll break ground in spring of 2007 on the
first phase of his development -- a building that would fill the
old Ace Auto Wrecking Yard on Piere Street with 100 upscale
condos, 32 apartments for students enrolled in Wenatchee
Valley College's Allied Health program and 20,000 feet of
ground-level retail space.

The project calls for underground parking for both park users
and condo dwellers. Riverfront Park and the Apple Capital
Recreation Loop Trail would remain untouched, but the city
would build Riverside Drive, for about $6.6 million, through
what is now the park's parking lots.

Allison Williams, executive services director for the city and a
key figure in the city's riverfront planning, said the city plans to
pay for the road with a $4.57 million grant from the state
Transportation Improvement Board. The rest would come
from city funds and through land donations from owners of
the properties through which the road would be built.

By late 2010, Blodgett hopes to continue to build condos and
shop space all the way south to Fifth Street, taking in a 2-acre
property currently owned by Bob Fries and the city's Riverfront
Park Ice Arena, which Blodgett hopes to acquire via a land swap
with the city. Blodgett said he'd finance both phases of the project
with family money, but is not yet able to estimate the project's cost.

•At the corner of Piere and Ninth streets, another local developer
Kamkon Inc., represented by Tim Seibly, is in the process of buying
the 8.5-acre Ninth Street Trailer Park and an adjacent 4-acre property
to the south. Seibly said this morning Kamkon will build retail and
condominium space on the properties that might also include a space
for the Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market.

•Blodgett is in the process of buying a 9-acre lot next to Lowe's.

Williams said Blodgett would swap the property for the city's
Riverfront Park Ice Arena property once the city has financing
in place to build the proposed arena. Construction would begin
in 2008 at the earliest, Williams said.

The rest of the sports arena's estimated $30 million price tag
would likely come from a combination of bond sales, hoped-for
legislation that would allow the city to keep all the sales tax revenue
generated by the new facility, and as much as $10 million from the
Community Economic Revitalization Board -- state funds earmarked
for projects that create jobs. The funds must be approved by the
legislature.

State Sen. Linda Evans Parlette, R-Wenatchee, said she and
fellow legislators, Reps. Cary Condotta, R-East Wenatchee,
and Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee, support the plan and will
work to secure funding. All attended the Thursday announcement.

"These are huge projects, and huge projects sometimes fall
through," Williams said, "But I'll tell you what -- I've never
been in Wenatchee when so many heads have been nodding
at the same time. We have the will of the community to see
this through."

Phoenix-based Global Entertainment designed a proposed
arena and would co-develop the project with Blodgett or
another builder chosen by the city, Williams said.

Rick Kozuback, Global's president and CEO, said his company
would then manage and operate the arena, booking as many as
150 events per year that would range from monster truck shows
to music concerts.

Kozuback said North Central Washington's population
and demographicscan support a sports arena.

"There's a void in this community for a lot of things this building
would do," Kozuback said Thursday. "The movement over the
course of the next 10 years will be toward mid-sized buildings.
People want entertainment in their own communities."

With building permits still pending on both the condominium
and arena projects, Kozuback admitted that a lot of work
remains to be done.

But only a complete reversal by the city
would stop it from happening, he said.

** Riverfront Proposals at a Glance

A city-owned $30 million sports and events
facility across from Walla Walla Point Park.

•Condos and retail on the site of the former Ace Auto
Wrecking Yard on Piere Street, proposed by businessman
Ken Blodgett.

Condos and retail on land that includes the current site
of the Riverfront Park Ice Arena. Also a Blodgett proposal.

•Kamkon Development is buying about 12.5 acres near
Piere and Ninth streets to build condominiums and retail
space that might include Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market.


** The Key Players

Name: Ken Blodgett
Age: 64
Home: Wenatchee
Company: Blodgett Construction Associates, Malaga
Experience, background: Blodgett began in the construction
business 47 years ago. He's licensed in all U.S. states west
of the Mississippi River and has built projects ranging from retail
and condominiums to industrial and medical developments.

He moved to Wenatchee from Seattle about 10 years ago.
He started Blodgett Construction after a partner bought
Blodgett's share of their Seattle construction company.

Education: Blodgett graduated from
Tigard High School in the Portland area.

Name: Rick Kozuback
Age: 52
Home: Phoenix
Company: Global Entertainment Corporation, Phoenix
Background, experience: Kozuback is president and CEO
of a company that develops, manages and operates five
sports arenas/events centers in Colorado, Texas, Ohio,
New Mexico, Arizona. New arenas in Colorado and
Penticton, B.C., are slated to open next year and in 2008.

Kozuback was founder and president of the Western
Professional Hockey League, which merged with the Central
Hockey League, which Kozuback's company owns. He's former
head coach of the Tri-City Americans in the Western Hockey
League, and former associate head coach of minor-league hockey's
Phoenix Roadrunners and the Los Angeles Kings in the National
Hockey League.

Education: He graduated from the University of
Alberta in 1975 with a bachelor's degree in education.

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