Public Venue & Audience Support Facilities

Projects referenced indicate work managed and/or completed by senior BBP LLC staff, including assignments by Basile and Prost when they were Principals and senior technical staff at other consulting firms.

Staff at BBP LLC have long been involved in studies related to all types of public and private audience support and group meeting facilities, ranging from passive cultural facilities to large complexes catering to sports and entertainment events. Creative, innovative techniques, such as asset bartering and air rights leasing have been used to cause construction of public venues. The usual approach implemented by BBP LLC includes an initial market study to determine supply and demand potentials. The next step involves preliminary design concepts sufficient to provide detailed capital cost estimates and pro forma financial analyses to describe investment returns. In many instances, these assessments are prepared as part of a mixed-use package containing hotels, office buildings, retail and residential projects.

The role of BBP LLC in programming these facilities also often requires preparing, administering and tabulating the results of user surveys geared to better understanding local and non-local market demand. Analyses of competing facilities, as well as schedules of rates and charges in the marketplace are typical programming tasks. These market-oriented exercises are usually followed by financial analyses geared to identify and understand the likelihood and magnitude of any operating deficits or debt service shortfalls projected from development of these facilities. Similarly, fiscal impact assessments are designed to illustrate costs and benefits related to project construction.

Performing Arts Complexes
Performing arts complexes are now found in medium- and smaller-sized communities, and form the focus for a variety of local cultural activities. These often include stage and rehearsal areas, studios, classrooms and lecture halls to support productions, lectures, readings and other arts-related events.

Convention and Civic Centers
Often tied to development of hotel facilities, civic and convention centers have been programmed by staff at BBP LLC in dozens of communities nationwide. These facilities often include trade show space, more polished meeting and banquet space (including break-out rooms) and fixed-seat theaters and auditoriums.

Conference Centers
Conference centers have been developed primarily to satisfy the requirements of specialized meetings consisting of upper-level management, as well as planning and education/training seminars. In less than two decades the concept of the conference center appears to have created the most rapidly growing sector of the meetings industry. Four types of conference centers being developed include executive conference centers, corporate conference centers, resort conference centers and nonprofit conference centers.

Theaters and Arts Districts
Staff at BBP LLC have also been instrumental in theater reuse efforts and in the establishments of arts districts in communities nationwide. These analyses have included programming events and activities required to create an evening entertainment environment, complete with retail and housing opportunities.

Sports and Multi-Purpose Facilities
Programming for sports facilities and events also is a specialty of BBP LLC. The economics of spectator facilities is a highly specialized area of assessment and the firm has been on the forefront of providing market and financial advice to several communities.

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