OUR VIEW: Rogue X, Holly worth the wait, but casino future is anyone’s bet

Published 5:30 am Saturday, December 2, 2023

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Recent updates signaled that three long-awaited projects — alike only in that they a) offer leisure activity alternatives and b) seemingly have taken forever to come to fruition — are closer to being available for Rogue Valley residents.

For the new Rogue Credit Union Community Complex (commonly referred to as “Rogue X”) and the restoration of the historic Holly Theatre, this is welcome news.

Word, however, that the third project — the Coquille Tribe’s plans for the Cedars at Bear Creek Casino in Medford — was set to clear a significant hurdle has been greeted with renewed anger and frustration by its wide coalition of opponents.

Your results, as the saying goes, might vary.

Rogue X is closest to making a splash, with the $75 million aquatics and sports center in west Medford expected to open for swimmers in early January.

Primarily conceived as a replacement for the Jackson and Hawthorne park pools, it is considered the largest building ever built by city. Along with multiple pools and other water features, Rogue X will feature a 76,000-square-foot central area capable of fitting eight basketball courts, 16 volleyball courts or 360 booths for trade shows.

Rich Rosenthal, director of the Medford Parks, Recreation and Facilities Department, envisions the complex will serve both the everyday needs of residents for top-shelf athletic needs, but also as a “game changer” that will draw state and regional events to the area.

If everything about Rogue X is brand-spanking new, the oft-stalled restoration of the Holly Theatre exemplifies the phrase that “everything old is new again.”

Fundraising continues for the final $1 million to complete the project at the 1930 landmark, which is being recreated precisely as it was in its heyday — with a hoped-for opening at some time in 2024.

Closed in 1986, the Holly — known for its distinctive neon sign — has been undergoing its transformation to past glory under the auspices of the Jefferson Public Radio Foundation since 2011.

Grants, volunteer efforts, and individual donors have funded the bulk of the financial push for the project, the cost for which has risen many-fold to what is now projected as a $13 million price tag.

Shelley Austin, executive director of Jefferson Live!, says that recreating the look and the feel of the Holly — with allowances for discrete modern amenities — was essential for bring the theater, which will seat 1,000 for shows and performances, back to life.

If Rogue X and the Holly Theatre have athletics and arts supporters bristling with anticipation, news that plans for a Medford casino are likely to get a boost from the Biden Administration was met with far less enthusiasm.

In the planning stages since 2012, the Coquille project has consistently been opposed by other tribes and by many Oregon lawmakers, with much of the opposition centered around whether the Coquille — who already have a casino in North Bend — have the right to build another on a Medford site.

In a statement, the Coquille said opponents — who are considering a legal challenge if the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs sides with the project — were seeking to advance their own political or economic self-interests in trying to block the casino.

While that seems like a battle that isn’t over yet, Rogue X and and the Holly Theatre give residents reason to smile. And to quote the late philosopher Meat Loaf — two out of three ain’t bad.

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