HEB Center

H-E-B CENTER AT CEDAR PARK Stars of theNational HockeyLeague,the parent owner of theTexas Stars.Today,the Center is run bySMG,the worldwide venuemanagement group that specializes inmanaging publicly-owned facilities. “Up until October,2016,theTexas Stars ran the fa- cility froman operational standpoint and theyalso ran the hockey team,”says General Manager,JimSalamen- ta.”Then,the Dallas Stars decided to put the building operations side up for bid and SMGwon.So,theTexas Stars nowconcentrate just on hockey,and SMG is here tomaintain and run the facilityand bookall other events.” Booking events is a key itemon Salamenta’s agenda, and in a verycompetitiveAustin areamarket,he real- izes that the Center’s relationshipwith SMG is helpful. “I am in constant contact with SMG Entertainment in regards to booking the facility,”he says.“Theyprovide enormous support to us,but,at the same time,I’m responsible for getting the place booked.The big thing is to drive business.” Salamenta has been surveying the event landscape and believes that,going forward,the Center is well positioned to dramatically increase the number of its concert events,year over year,even though its com- petition is nearbyAustin,some 20miles to the south, which is well-known for its expansivemusic scene and its large number of established venues. “Whenwe first tookover,it was,‘Howdowe get peo- ple fromdowntown up to Cedar Park?’”he recounts. “Now,I don’t knowif that’s necessary.Of course,we always want asmanypeople as we can get to come see our shows,but themarket inNorthAustin is grow- ing like crazy.And there’s growth everywhere in Cedar Park.It’s amarket that’s hungry for entertainment,that has the income,and is growing by theminute.Recently,we’ve seen a big increase in ticket sales-our last eight to ten shows have been very successful.It’s still tough to get shows,but I’mextremelyoptimistic about the future.There are new businesses going up all the time and newbusinessesmean new peoplemoving here and that will impact us in a positiveway.It’s just inevitable.” Salamenta is happy to note that the Center,being onlynine years old,has suffered no“major me- chanical issues,”although there have been some recent upgrades. “We’ve purchased a curtain system to do smaller theater type shows,” he explains,“andwe’ve added some staging sowe can do bigger shows without having to rent a stage.We have put in all newfault protection for light safety–that was pretty important to us. “We have done some significant upgrades in ourWi-Fi system; it’s still awork in progress.It’s difficult in such a big,open space because there are a lot of things communi- catingwith one another.But,we’re working through that,now.It’s vital and people expect it.If yourWi-Fi’s not humming in the building,we’re going to get complaints at guest services.Moving forward,we’re looking at newand improved LED