COEUR d'ALENE - One local businessman and sports fan is trying to buy a hunk of land that he would donate to North Idaho College for a proposed event center.

Doug Parker, owner of Parker Toyota, said he has made an offer to Washington Trust Bank to purchase roughly 22 acres in west Riverstone so the college would have cost-free land for a proposed sport and event facility.

"We're negotiating as we speak," Parker told The Press this week, saying his offer began in "the 3 million dollar range." It's "not concrete yet. We have actually made a couple of written offers and had them rejected, (but) we still have the potential of putting something together."

The land is in the process of being annexed into the city. It sits off Seltice Way, east of the U.S. Bank Call Center. About 7 acres of it sits on the bank of the Spokane River.

If Parker goes through with the purchase, he said he's unsure how much of the land would go for the potential arena, and how much would go for other things, including other public venues. But one thing is clear, he said: The college and community could benefit from the proposed arena.

"It has the potential to be a wonderful addition to the city of Coeur d'Alene and NIC," he said.

Parker said the college's athletic teams are in dire need of an upgraded venue, and the political timing of the project means the community has to act now if it wants to take advantage of urban renewal funding that's in line to help make the arena happen.

"If we can make it financially palatable, I expect it to be welcomed by the community," Parker, an NIC sports fan since 1972, said about the project.

He compared it to other highly visible projects of late, such as the library and Kroc Center, which have proven to be successful ventures.

"It always starts out with a bunch of negative responses," he said. "There's no reason in the world this can't be a project along those lines - that's our thinking."

If the deal goes through, it would be a big financial commitment to a project that is relying on donations to get the whole thing off the ground.

Lake City Development Corp., the city's urban renewal agency, has pledged $10 million for the arena. But for the college to secure that pledge, it has to raise $5 million of its own. Supporters of the project have estimated spending around $2.5 million on land for a proposed 5,000-seat event center.

The "political ramifications" of the project's timing, as Parker put it, have to do with city elections in November.

Three pro-urban renewal incumbents are not running for re-election, and a new City Council could vote to disband the urban renewal board. That would kill the arena project if it happened before NIC and partners could raise money, locate land and secure LCDC's pledge.

The topic is sure to hit the campaign trail this fall, but the best way for arena supporters to ensure that the elections don't kill the project is to have their ducks in a row before January, when a new council is sworn in. A new council couldn't revoke financial agreements LCDC has already made.

Also, the two sites NIC is looking at would have to be incorporated into LCDC's River District boundary. That would require a vote of approval from the City Council.

The other spot an arena could go is in Riverstone, east of West Riverstone Drive.

"It needs to be pretty quick," Parker said of securing the moving parts.

Parker added that a land donation would ease the pressure of fundraising for operational costs, which the college said it would do.

Mark Browning, vice president of community relations for NIC, said Friday he couldn't comment on the possible donation, as he hadn't been informed about the possible deal.

NIC President Joe Dunlap couldn't be reached Friday. He told The Press earlier in the week, before Parker confirmed his intent, that the ad hoc committee exploring the possibility of building an event center should make a recommendation to the NIC Board of Trustees at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28.

That recommendation will tell the board whether the project is worth pursuing. The trustees could vote to not pursue the project, effectively making the political timeline moot.

But in the meantime, Dunlap said, the volunteer committee is looking at nine like-sized arenas around the country. Those facilities are in places like Warren, Mich., Ithaca, N.Y., and Hickory, N.C., and are similar to what NIC would build because they're operated by a community college but also host events for the community such as concerts, trade shows and graduations. Parker is a member of the ad hoc committee.

Another member of the committee is Rick Souza, owner of Design Events, a trade show and theme event production company operating in Coeur d'Alene since 1984.

Dunlap said Souza's presence on the committee doesn't present a conflict of interest despite the company depending on some of the types of events the arena would try to attract. Instead, Dunlap said, the college would benefit from Souza's 30 years of industry experience.

"He provides a perspective to the committee and some experience to the committee that we don't have," Dunlap said, adding that a conflict claim would be the same as having NIC representatives on the committee representing a conflict because the college could potentially benefit. "It's not a conflict. It's the fact that he has knowledge and expertise he can bring to the table and shed some light on issues the rest of us don't have."

Last month during a committee meeting, Souza said that as owner of Design Events, he would love to see the arena built if it made financial sense for the community. He didn't return messages this week from The Press. His wife, Mary Souza, is a candidate for Coeur d'Alene mayor. She issued an online newsletter on the arena about two weeks ago addressing her husband's business and role on the committee.

"We will be all for it if the research is made current, complete, accurate and shows strong financial feasibility... and the people of Kootenai County are given a VOTE," she wrote.

No representatives from the community colleges the committee is studying could be reached for comment Friday.

Early estimates from the committee and a 2008 feasibility study indicate a Coeur d'Alene arena could attract $877,135 in annual revenue, but operate each year at a deficit of $101,615. The 2008 study said the center could generate $7 million for local hotels, restaurants and other retail businesses if 75 or so events could be staged.