LaPorte native making plans for environmentally friendly development.
by Heidi Prescott Wieneke
Paul Boardman acknowledges there are some important details about the multipurpose sports and entertainment venue he is planning in Northwest Indiana that have not yet been announced. He has not revealed the site on which Duneland Arena would be located, for instance, or released a rendering to give Porter County residents a look at the planned facility.
But the LaPorte native, business leader and environmental sustainability champion passionately describes his vision for a $70 million investment that would serve as a landmark destination. The arena also would serve as an economic catalyst by ultimately creating thousands of jobs and providing more than a hundred events each year, ranging from concerts to amateur and professional sports.
Boardman says his goal is to integrate new capabilities and technologies in building the world's first LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Platinum arena of its size in the world. His desire is for the privately funded arena to generate not only its own power, but also excess power.
“For the last 10 years, I have talked to people about using my capabilities to bring jobs to Indiana,” says Boardman, who is chief executive of IG Co. and serves as a national public policy expert. “I have made the commitment to put my time, effort and resources into this project and Porter County is the right place to build it.”
Boardman founded nonprofit Duneland Family Sports and Entertainment in 2012 to specifically examine the feasibility of constructing and operating an arena that will push the sustainability envelope of net-plus building design in Indiana. He first conceived the project more than a decade ago, but Boardman says he waited for the right timing to move forward.
“I believe that a primary factor to success is our local approach fostered as a long-term Northwest Indiana native,” he says. “I am an advocate of this approach because I have deep roots in the community going back several generations. My grandparents were grocers and grew up here.”
He commissioned a feasibility study last spring that took six months to complete. In early September, Boardman announced the project that he named “Game On!” along with some early details about size and scope. He continues moving forward with plans relatively quietly and out of the public spotlight. Chesterton-based parent Duneland Sports Authority will seek private capital to fund the arena and supplement Boardman's private investment.
“I have a passion for economic development and that's what this project is all about,” he says. “My vision is well under way, executing with a consortium of interested parties, including top professionals with local, national and global experience who want to make this happen.”
Boardman, a 1983 Valparaiso University graduate, says he has been engaged with local, state and national academic, government and corporate research facilities. This includes learning from Valparaiso University's experience in launching LEED technology and solar technology on its campus. “Valparaiso University is a national leader with one of five solar research labs in the country,” he says. The university also has the only LEED Platinum academic building in Indiana.
The architectural firm that will be hired to design the building will be a LEED-certified company with experience in environmentally friendly design. With the specific criteria the arena will have to meet for LEED Platinum certification, Boardman says it could take a year for the architectural drawings to be done.
More than 800,000 residents of Porter County and Northwest Indiana will be served by the arena, which would offer family-friendly sporting events and entertainment along with concerts, community events, trade shows and corporate, religious and cultural events, Boardman says.
With a location in mind, Boardman tentatively hopes to commence construction of Duneland Arena in 2015, with the project generating about 250 construction jobs. He hopes the venue would open sometime in 2016. “We're designing something that has not been done. This is an original design. There has not been a LEED Platinum arena of this size, a LEED Platinum multipurpose facility completed in the United States or maybe the world,” says Boardman. “If we create a net-plus arena, that's an incredible statement for Northwest Indiana because it has not been done before. We want more efficient buildings–that is not a debatable issue in America any more. We want to achieve that. Ultimately, ‘Game On!' is about doing the right thing for our community.”
Duneland Sports Authority will partner with established leading LEED planners, engineers, researchers and universities to ensure the building achieves platinum certification, which he says is a challenging starting goal. “We want a landmark building that is extremely well designed. The LEED and conservation sustainability effort that's going on across the country is a key focal point of this project. In fact, that is the primary driver.”
The venue is also in line with Northwest Indiana's 2030 economic and quality of life initiative goals to create a global model for green manufacturing and sustainability. Boardman says the project's challenge is “to create a design that fills the gap between the hypothetical and the possible.”
Another green initiative Boardman hopes to execute is the creation of a local food supply chain for concessions. “Through our studies, we have found all our needs can be obtained locally from beverages to meat producers and vegetable growers. Products for almost every kind of concession are available locally, so we will source our concessions from our backyard, from the bread basket of the world.”
Boardman also wants to support children's sports initiatives, including coach development, with revenues above operating costs. “We want it to go into training and back into the community,” he says. Even the name of the arena still could potentially change. “We're talking with companies and individuals about naming rights.”
No matter its name, he believes the arena will drive additional long-term economic development across the region, Boardman says. Duneland Sports Authority will work with commercial real estate developers on additional development, which could push the project investment to about $115 million.
Boardman believes his experience running for U.S. Congress in the 1990s in the West Los Angeles Hollywood district, serving as an advance man on the 1984 Reagan presidential campaign in Washington, D.C., and working in private equity and business development, has provided him the leadership skills and training to see this project through construction and to ensure it is operated and managed professionally.
“The best thing I could do is build an arena for incredible sports and entertainment and have it be a focal point for the business community and a building everyone can be proud of. With that, will come a lot of visitors and other needs,” Boardman says. “I'm a local person and that means everything. I want to do the right thing for our community.”
