COEUR d'ALENE - Questions about the possibility of building a multi-million event center in Riverstone remain aplenty, but North Idaho College is committed to digging them out.

How big, exactly, would the arena be?

How many seats for how many events?

And precisely where would it go?

A workshop between NIC trustees and a volunteer ad hoc committee assigned with exploring the feasibility of building an event center met Thursday to go over the first round of preliminary numbers tied to the possible project, but, trustees said, more work needs to be done to figure out if a $15 to $20 million multi-purpose arena and Coeur d'Alene make a reasonable match.

"I think that's a really good start for us," said Ron Nilson, NIC trustee, on delving into more research geared at comparing similar structures around the country to the facility NIC is exploring. "I think we're better off to go find two or three examples of this somewhere. We might find the perfect example in some place like Oklahoma or Colorado."

The ad hoc committee has been using a study from 2008 that said a 6,000-seat facility could fulfill a niche in the market for sports events and smaller concerts.

Troy Tymesen, city finance director and ad hoc committee member, used that report for a foundation to figure out maintenance and operating costs. He scaled the revenues back considering the proposed center would be a possible 5,000-seat facility, and doubled the amount estimated for capital repair as a conservative precaution.

His numbers said it would draw in $877,135 in revenues, but operate each year at $101,615 in the hole.

As far as where it would go, the college has identified two locations in Riverstone. One is about 10 acres, off Seltice Way east of West Riverstone Drive. The other is about 21 acres, just east of the US Bank Call Center. That piece of property is next to the Spokane River and was recently annexed into the city of Coeur d'Alene, as requested by its owner, Washington Trust Bank.

Either area would require the city's urban renewal boundary to be extended to make it eligible for $10 million in urban renewal funds the agency, Lake City Development Corp., pledged to the project should NIC move it forward.

Before choosing which locale would be better, the ad hoc committee will continue to study what exactly it would build. If it narrows down that footprint, estimated now at 60,000-square-feet, it can compare it to similar facilities around the nation in similar markets where a college or sports team is the tenant anchor, as Coeur d'Alene's proposes, and go from there.

"I'm not even prepared at this point to say we're ready to go," said Christie Wood, NIC trustee. "It makes me nervous."

The trustees earlier passed a resolution that said, among other things, that NIC wouldn't use taxpayer support to fund the facility. Preliminary numbers said the facility would draw between 89 and 105 events and the 2008 study said the economic impact could be around $7 million into the area at places such as hotels and restaurants from those events.