Hello everyone!  We’ve got some news! Mike Tennyson replied to my email! Here is his response:

“Riley,

Thank you for your interest in our Sedona property.

Our vision for the development of the property is described in detail within the Western Gateway Community Focus Area (CFA) plan (https://www.sedonaaz.gov/home/showdocument?id=29273 that was approved and adopted by the City Council and the city planning commission in March of 2015. This vision is the product of over two dozen public meetings with the city council, planning commission, citizen's CFA committee and city staff spread over a 2-year period. 

Overall, the vision that has been agreed upon is to develop the property into a unique world class mixed use walkable community which incorporates housing, lodging, a wellness village, a center of innovation and entrepreneurship, retail, food service, open space, conference center, parking facilities and yes, a public town square that will have a variety of uses, including a smaller music venue.

Currently, we have no plans to develop the property ourselves. We do intend to begin marketing the property to prospective developers and end-users.

Just to give you a little history, in 2003 the cultural park board found themselves in foreclosure and on the brink of bankruptcy. My group purchased the property and in turn gave the cultural park board a 10-year lease for the property for one dollar per year. We also made a charitable contribution to the organization in the amount of $400,000 to pay their creditors and give them some operating capital to get back on their feet. Unfortunately, the board filed for bankruptcy within six months of our donation and the venue went dark. I don’t believe the failure was for lack of effort on anyone’s part in that several foundations and community members donated tens of millions of dollars to acquire, develop and support the cultural park.

On reflection, I believe the cultural park was doomed for financial failure from the onset for several reasons. The number of performances were restricted by the city to 8 large performances per year. The permitted sound levels were very restrictive. All performances had to be over by 10 PM. The neighboring property owners opposed the use. Sufficient parking was an issue. In addition, the venue was weather dependent, and the area population base was not sufficient to fill the 5,500 seat venue. Simply put, the business model was unrealistic from the very beginning unless major donors covered the ongoing financial losses. Those supporters vaporized with the demise of the operation.

At the time we purchased the property, we were committed to saving the cultural park just as you are today. In fact, the company that owns the cultural park, SATCUPA, LLC gets its name by using the first two letters of the phrase 'save the cultural park'. We were more than disappointed when the cultural park board defaulted on the 10-year lease and squandered the $400,000 that we had donated to get the park back in operation.

As we worked with our land planners, architects and city officials over the years, we have endeavored to develop a mixed-use community that is sustainable and focused on art, wellness, music and community. The keyword being sustainable. We feel that there has to be several economic engines to generate the revenue needed to be able to integrate art and music components into the community. As we've witnessed, they can't stand alone. I feel very strongly that the CFA vision is economically sustainable and will allow for a forum or venue for the arts and music components.

So Riley, there were some very profound reasons the old venue failed. However, we feel that a smaller venue that will accommodate 300-500 people will be quite viable if incorporated into a mixed-use community. We will begin our efforts soon to find the right developer that will take the vision and bring it to fruition. 

I hope this answers your question. I think at the end of the day our goals are mutual. We just want it developed in a manner that will be economically sustainable for decades to come. Hopefully for you and your family's enjoyment.

Respectfully, 

Mike Tennyson”