Grand Forks' Alerus Center reported strong financial results for the first quarter of the year Thursday. The center reported earnings of $275,000 even though it had been budgeted to lose money.
Including the built-in hospitality tax subsidy, the city-owned events center made $340,000 as of the end of March. Management expected a loss of $111,000 without the subsidy and a loss of $11,000 with it.
For the same quarter in 2011, the Alerus Center earned $57,000 before the subsidy and $122,000 after.
Attendance of events held at the Alerus Center was also up compared to recent years. As of the end of March, it had recorded 87,000 attendees at 199 events. First-quarter attendance has hovered below 55,000 since 2009.
Some big events the Alerus Center hosted recently included the state Class B Boys Basketball Tournament (estimated attendance: 26,800) and the state Democratic convention, which featured former President Bill Clinton.
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That showed in building rental revenue, which increased 149 percent to $236,000 for the fist quarter. Many events were conferences and meetings, and catering revenue increased 178 percent to $539,000.
