Advice and strategies for starting an event center

[Paul Fagot]

My partner and I are looking to purchase a commercial building here in Redding California. It has been vacant for seven years. The first building is 18,000 ft.² the second building is 8,000 ft.² both buildings sit on an 8 acre lot. Both of the buildings do need some repairs. Our goal with purchasing these commercial buildings is to start up an event center for the community. Something where the community always has something to do. The city that we live in needs something new, something big, something to bring the family's all together along with providing motivation for teens and young adults to get out and be active. The only direct competitors would be the Civic Center. The issue with the Civic Center is that they are very limited with what they will allow. The other competitor is the fairgrounds in Anderson which is located 15 to 30 minutes from Redding and Shasta Lake. Along with being inconveniently located, they are also very limited with things they will allow. Our space would be centrally located in town and surrounded by local restaurants and Hotels. Located less than a mile from the space is Redding's "Hospitality Way" which is home to many high quality restaurants and hotels. The entire property would be designed as a universal event space for a variety of gatherings and events. Together, my partner and I have come up with approximately 24 ideas for the project, including, the annual "3 on 3" basketball tournament, the annual carnival and Redding's most favorite event Kool April Nites. This space would also be perfect for charity events, school dances, festivals, farmers markets as well as many other events. To keep the space profitable we think designating a space to storage units or opening a restaurant/bar in one of the buildings may be ideal for monthly income. At this time we are contacting local organizations to see if they would be interested in having their events at this facility. While we have a few organizations on board, we are still sourcing other groups just to solidify our market here. But as far as our studying goes, this is a great opportunity. Only thing we're trying to figure out is how were going to go about purchasing or going about getting the property. Would partnering with the owners and us funding the repairs and events be a good way? Or just rent out the property. Considering the things we have planned, partnering with them would be the best way. Any thoughts or advice on how to go about this?