Thursday, March 23, 2023
Home   >   Economy   >   Advertising and Marketing   >   Puerto Rico Coliseum Prepares to Reopen

Puerto Rico Coliseum Prepares to Reopen

By on February 18, 2021

(ESM/CB)
An aerial view of the Puerto Rico Coliseum (ESM/CB)

SAN JUAN  — Despite talk Thursday that the Puerto Rico Coliseum would close, the executive director of the Puerto Rico Convention Center District Authority, Mariela Vallines, discarded the assertion made on radio and announced that the large facility, known as the “Choliseo,” is being prepared to reopen and will keep its iconic stature as a venue for events and concerts.

“To this day, 14 capital improvement projects are being carried out with an investment of $2.2 million,” she said in a statement. “In addition, 27 other necessary improvement projects were identified and we are in the process of identifying and requesting the funds to begin carrying out these works. The fiscal impact of these improvements is estimated at $19.3 million.”

The official argued that “improvements are not made at a facility that is going to close,” rejecting that the largest event venue in the Caribbean will halt operations after it was reportedly being shuttered.

Mariela Vallines, executive director of the Convention Center District Authority (Courtesy)

She explained that “the ban on events at the Coliseum as a result of the pandemic has been taken advantage of in order to make the improvements. Let us remember that the nature of these venues is to receive thousands of people per event, this makes it difficult to do improvement works of this nature when the facilities are in operation.”

Producers Await

“We have event producers representing local and international artists interested in booking dates for events,” Vallines stressed, adding that the coliseum is neither bankrupt nor closed, “quite the opposite, when we reopen, you will find an improved facility, in optimal conditions and ready to receive both artists and the public, in a safe environment and in full compliance with the protocols to avoid Covid-19 transmission.”

The official assured that the venue “will soon face the situation that we will not have enough dates to accommodate the offer of shows that want to be presented at the Coliseum.”

You must be logged in to post a comment Login