VALENTINE, Neb. - The architecture team working on a new convention center in Valentine presented two potential designs to the Cherry County Board of Commissioners. As News Channel Nebraska reported earlier this year, Cherry County commissioners signed an inter-local agreement with Mid-Plains Community College to build a center near the college.

Proposed Valentine Convention Center

 

On Tuesday, the board reviewed two different 6,000-square-foot building plans.

Proposed Valentine Convention Center

 

The key distinction between the designs is the entrance placement—one featuring a central entry, while the other positions it off to the side.

Proposed Valentine Convention Center Floor Plan

  

Both designs show the convention center attaching to the college with a lobby that allows for ticketing. The large meeting space could remain open or be divided into four smaller rooms as needed.

“Everything is on schedule, and I think they’ve done a good job putting everything together the way the board had envisioned,” said Commissioner Nina Nelson.

“It’s a good location. It will look nice coming into town,” said Commissioner Martin DeNaeyer.

As far as parking, the architecture group mentioned that they could add additional parking to the east and west sides of the building.

“We know the goal of the project is to have it be around $4 million, but there may need to be adjustments as we get further down the line,” said Jacob Sertich, the Managing Principal of Wilkins Architecture.

“My only concern would be letting the dollar sign creep up. Let’s be conscious of that,” said DeNaeyer.

The agreement stipulates that the county will pay $250,000 by September for design work. After that, commissioners agreed to pay $250,000 every quarter throughout the building project, with a maximum contribution of $1.5 million.

Cherry County Tourism has been working toward a convention center for a couple of decades and has  already set aside $1.5 million in a promotional fund, generated from lodging taxes. No county tax dollars are expected to be used for the project.

"The payments quarterly will fund the progress of the convention center without completely depleting our funds, so we can continue to support other projects than may need funded in the near future," said Regina Osburn, Cherry County Tourism Director.