Support Ogden ice climbing
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Godfrey on Ogden economic history and vision
Godfrey on Ice Tower $200K and private dollars
Godfrey on total city money for Ice Tower
Godfrey on Ice Tower operational funds
Godfrey on 25th Street merchants and the Ice Tower
Godfrey on the unique design of the Ice Tower
Godfrey on marketing for the Ice Tower
Godfrey on the risk vs. benefit of the Ice Tower
As Ogden continues to market itself as a high-adventure recreation destination in Utah and throughout the West, the notion of a downtown ice-climbing tower is less bizarre than it would be in, say, Layton or Salt Lake City.
Still, it would be something of an oddity -- a comparatively unique attraction in a city that already offers indoor skydiving, boogie-boarding, faux-rock-wall climbing and a close proximity to the Wasatch Mountains and their ski resorts, lakes, hiking and biking trails, and Mother Nature's own rock and ice climbing venues. It's precisely that singular nature that Ogden's mayor, Matthew Godfrey, believes could make it a sustainable attraction.
That's why he's asked the Ogden City Council to contribute $200,000 in one-time funding for the ice tower -- seed money, he says, that will leverage more than $1 million in private money to construct the ice tower on the northeast corner of 25th Street and Kiesel Avenue. Private donors, Godfrey says, have expressed a desire to see the city's skin in the game, so to speak, before they fund the remainder of the $1.6 million project. (Go to www.standard.net to listen to a selection of the mayor's comments at a May 2 meeting about the ice tower project with the newspaper's editorial board.)
The city will have to own the ice-climbing tower in order to keep a $200,000 grant from the county's Recreation, Arts, Museums and Parks (RAMP) tax. But Godfrey says flatly that the city council's contribution will be its only cash donation to the tower venture. The city would then lease the tower to world-renowned ice climber Jeff Lowe, who would manage the facility.
It's important to note that Lowe's business plan includes enough funds in reserve to dismantle the ice tower if it's not economically sustainable -- so the city, even though technically the tower's owner, would not be on the hook to tear the thing down if it flops.
In a city council meeting last week, four of the seven council members expressed a willingness to contribute $100,000 -- half what Godfrey was hoping for -- toward the ice tower project. Furthermore, they seemed inclined, when the issue comes to a formal vote later this month, to withhold the money until all the other money has been raised.
Involved in this halving of the mayor's request may be some payback for his administration's hand in amending the state redevelopment agency statute earlier this year; Godfrey's people pulled it off without first informing the council. But whatever the motivation over the amount of the city's financial participation, this is prudent management: The city should only be contributing to this project if the tower's private financial backers express confidence in its viability -- that skin-in-the-game philosophy is a two-way street. Furthermore, the city's contribution has been more than cash on the counter: It has been doing legwork on the proposal, and will be doing some infrastructure work for Key Bank, which has donated the land for the ice tower.
On the whole, the ice-climbing tower is intriguing. City government's approach all along has been to make Ogden's attractions incomparable -- something you can't find everywhere else. By definition, then, such attractions are not sure things. If they're the same cookie-cutter stores, entertainments, etc., they won't siphon away patrons from other centers of economic activity.
To hear Godfrey tell it, Lowe's business plan is not dependent on making money from experienced climbers. Lowe will market his facility primarily as a date-night activity, schedule ice-climbing festivals, competitions and clinics, and attract a steady stream of people who will only do this periodically.
The trick will be to get enough of them to cover the cost of operating and maintaining the tower. That's a sober approach, not pie-in-the-sky. Whether it will work remains to be seen.
And a $100,000 -- or even $200,000 -- one-time investment would buy enough ink in outdoor publications alone to benefit the city.
As long as taxpayers aren't on the hook for the long-term, the council should get behind Godfrey, Lowe and the downtown ice-climbing tower.
Reader Comments
"As long as taxpayers aren't on the hook for the long-term, the council should get behind Godfrey, Lowe and the downtown ice-climbing tower."
What does that mean? Is there even some remote chance in this hair brained scheme for the "taxpayers" to not get screwed?
Will the $100 grand, or the $200 grand ever get paid back?
This is just one more pipe dream of Godfrey and his gang of incompetents.
Yes, lets build a multi-million dollar venue for the 15 people that will maybe use it!!! In my circle of friends I don't know anyone that would use this great new venue! This sounds like a real money losser if built. Lets think this over some more...
I guess I'm probably one of the 15 ice climbers that would use the ice tower if it were erected, but I would rather see money go to a quick and efficiant transit system over to the ski areas from downtown. If the mayer wants to see downtown flourish with tourism he needs to make it easy for folks to get to the ski areas with out having to get into their cars and drive. I live in the southeast and recently bought a vacation home in Ogden, and in the past year have seen consistant improvements throughout the area. I always look foreward to coming back to Ogden and our spectacular mountains.