McMorran Place Complex ...The law of unintended consequences strikes again...by Jeff Ragan.

 In 1965, Jim and Sue were a typical young couple with three children, a sixteen year old son and two girls ages thirteen and eleven.  While life was not easy, it seemed steady and they managed to make ends meet.  Brad, the boy, was doing well in school and talked about becoming an engineer, like his bachelor uncle Bill.  He was a good athlete, and played on the JV football team.  Bill was Sue’s older brother and maintained a close and generous relationship to his sister and her family.  As Brad’s 16^th birthday approached, he became obsessed with having a car.  Jim & Sue were in agreement that it just wasn’t affordable.  Uncle Bill surprised everyone by giving him a car – a 1961 Chevy Impala with 70,000 miles.

 While Jim and Sue still had some reservations about the gift, how could they say “no”?  Brad, of course, was thrilled and insisted that he could earn enough money to pay for gas and insurance.  Brad gave up high school sports in order to keep a job after school.  It wasn’t long before the car needed new tires, and that was just the beginning of a series of irritating maintenance issues. 

 Brad developed new friends at work, and his leisure time was spent cruising around town.  His grades slipped and his focus became centered on getting a higher paying job.  Talk about college changed from going away to school to going part-time at the community college.  The thought of giving up the car was never entertained.  After the first semester, Brad dropped out, and soon after was drafted into the military.   Brad never finished college.

 Uncle Bill’s gift was subject to the "Law of Unintended Consequences" and Brad was its victim.  Anyone, who lived through the sixties, knows a story similar to Brad’s.  Uncle Bill’s gift was an expression of his love and generosity towards his nephew, had he known the consequences, would he have made the gift?  Most likely, not.

 A dozen years earlier, the city voters turned down a ballot proposal for a city built convention center.   Two years later, Andrew J. Murphy, Port Huron ’s most famous philanthropist, gave the first of what was to become the McMorran Place Complex to the City of Port Huron .  Over the next few years, his gifts totaled over $3.5 million ($21 million in 2001 dollars), as he donated the Auditorium, two Arenas, and a Tower.

 His gift was also subject to the "Law of Unintended Consequences".  In the early years the auditorium hosted national speakers and stage events.  Local theatre groups entertained with stage productions. But before long, the auditorium that was promoted as “one of the finest community auditoriums in the country”, was being criticized as inadequate for stage productions by the community college and local high schools, who have subsequently built their own auditoriums. Today it shows its age and goes unused, most of the time.

 The Sports Arena was hardly built before it, too, was criticized as a smaller than regulation hockey rink with a seating capacity that was inadequate.  Several attempts have been made, over a long span of years, at making it the home of professional hockey or indoor football.  No one has succeeded.

 The Junior Arena was to be used for ice teams for local youth hockey.  It serves that purpose and hosts trade and hobby shows and is leased out for wedding receptions and community parties.  The Tower was closed shortly after it was opened, for security reasons.  It is rarely open to the public.

 For most of the first fifty years, the complex incurred large losses – sometimes exceeding a half-million dollars.  Today it is suffering from deferred maintenance, estimated to be in the millions to correct.  Knowing what we know today, would Andrew Murphy want us to continue?  As we face financial doom, would he be proud of the way his gift has contributed to our city?

 Some would say it has been mismanaged.  Most likely this is true.  Private ownership has proven to have a much better management history for entertainment facilities.  Fear of loss is a great motivator for the application of successful management practices.  If this complex is to continue to exist, properly maintained, and profitably managed, it will most likely be done with private ownership.

The reason the Complex has not lived up to expectations was most likely due to changes outside of its control.  In 1966, I-94 opened and the three hour drive down Gratiot to Detroit, was cut to a little more than an hour.  Professional sports and other entertainment became more easily assessable.  About the same time, the black and white snowy television reception of the fifties, was replaced when RCA introduced color TV.  The early excitement to see Louis Armstrong or Liberace faded in direct proportion to the size and quality of home television.  When big-time performers came to Port Huron, the auditorium with 1,157 seats with good acoustics was pre-empted by the 4,500 seats available in the sports arena, but the sound and sight quality suffered.  Just as vaudeville, reflected a gracious entertainment era of the past, the McMorran Auditorium was built at the end of an era.   

 Let’s sell the McMorran Place Complex.

 I mean a real sale – not some insider deal, replete with subsidies and tax abatements, and other incentives to some local consortium.  A real sale - let’s take bids over a six month period of time.  A real sale - Cash, with no tax abatements. “As is” condition.  We need to build our tax base and this would be a great place to start.

 What’s it worth?  The tax assessor places a value of $3,400,000 on Glacier Point in Port Huron Township .  The high school auditoriums cost more than $12,000,000 to build.  Replacement cost of the McMorran Place Complex would probably exceed $30 million, but then, there are millions in deferred maintenance and economic obsolescence. In the final analysis, it’s worth what the highest bidder will pay.

 What if we sold it for $10,000,000, and it went on our tax rolls.  It would generate over $276,000 per year in tax revenue. About $85,000 would go to the city, so when you consider a $400,000 current loss, that’s a swing of nearly $500,000 to our bottom line.  The tax revenue would include $157,000 to education and our library and other county services would benefit,   The $10 million recovers over twenty years of losses, and can be used to offset anticipated budget shortfalls.  Would this make Andrew Murphy smile?

 For those of you concerned about losing the entertainment package that McMorran provides, consider what you would do with it if you owned it.  You would probably try to find entertainment packages, priced attractively, that people would want to support. If you do, you win, if you don’t, you lose.  From the citizen’s perspective we would most likely have more and better choices.  Talk about having your cake and eating it, too!  Andrew Murphy just broke into a grin!

 Suppose they fail.  First of all, it’s their money, not ours.  Second, maybe it would have to be replaced.  Many cities have seen their landmarks torn down or renovated for something that is newer and better.  In economic terms, it is using the real estate for its highest and best use. The alternative is to have it become our version of Rome ’s Coliseum?  Would people travel to see our ruins?  Nearly everything wears out eventually and needs to be replaced, so while it would be sad, life would go on.

 The McMorran Authority had fifty years to get it right – they didn’t.  The extension on the Authority was supposed to yield a solution – it didn’t.  It is now suggested that we do another extension to explore alternatives – we shouldn’t.  Sell it!