Posted on: Thursday, June 14, 2001
Ticket Plus seeks Kaua'i call center
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Ticket Plus, a Honolulu-based sports and entertainment ticket seller, wants to set up its new calling center in county-owned facilities in Lihu'e.
The Kaua'i County Council will vote today on whether to authorize the leasing of up to 20,000 square feet of county-owned space to a private interest. Other companies may bid on the space, but Ticket Plus is the only name that has surfaced thus far. "We're going to go through the process," said Ticket Plus chief executive officer Manny Sanchez.
The ticket retailer and event management firm wants to put in a "state-of-the-art call center" that initially would employ 45 people and could expand to a work force of 300, he said.
Employees sitting at computers would take calls from around the nation and issue tickets to sporting events, concerts, theatrical productions and other activities in Hawai'i and across the country through the firm's strategic partner, Tickets.com.
The property is in the old Lihu'e Shopping Center, which was acquired by the county for office space.
The county already leases out considerable space to the Big Save stores for a supermarket and has roughly 40,000 square feet of vacant space remaining. The area once housed the old Amfac Kauai Stores, and more recently was home to Gem and Ace Hardware.
Mayoral administrative assistant Wallace Rezentes Sr. said the county plans to move the fire department's administrative offices, the Office of Community Assistance and other agencies into part of the vacant space. The remainder is excess, he said. When Ticket Plus initially made a courtesy call to Mayor Maryanne Kusaka, her office tried to set the company up with private firms that had the kind of space Ticket Plus needed.
Only after the company was unable to reach agreement with a private property owner did they discuss the county's space, Rezentes said.
"Even today, I'd rather not do this, but the mayor does not want to lose them to another island," he said. Ticket Plus already has call centers in Honolulu and in Asia.
