A week after Hertz announced its plans to paint Germain Arena in Estero a shade of bright yellow, members of the village’s Design Review Board had their say on the proposed color scheme Wednesday night.
Most board members said the plans need work before they are approved.
“It’s a dominant, dominant building in the community,” board member Michael Sheeley said of the arena. “I would think there is a way that the branding can be retained and still allow the building to be a little more harmonious with our community.”
Wednesday’s meeting of Estero’s Design Review Board, which examines architecture and landscaping of new development, was the first time the board and Estero residents publicly heard and commented on the plans to paint Germain Arena a shade of “Hertz Yellow.”
The proposal was part of last week’s announcement that Hertz had signed a naming-rights agreement, which will rename the home of the Florida Everblades hockey team to Hertz Arena.
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Before the paint job can happen, it needs to be approved by the Design Review Board. Wednesday night’s meeting started that process. A vote on the proposal is expected at a later date.
Discussion at the meeting focused on whether the colors proposed for the arena adhere to Estero’s land development codes. Most development in Estero follows Mediterranean architecture and design.
The village’s code on building color says commercial structures have to be “neutral, warm earth tones or subdued pastels.”
Commercial buildings can have “brightly colored trims,” but they have to complement the main structure and surrounding buildings, the code says.
A paint permit submitted to Estero’s community development department earlier this month shows KTB Florida Sports Arena LLC want the arena painted in a base color of “Hertz Yellow” with trim colors “Extra White” and “Tricorn Black.”
The exterior colors at Germain Arena now are shades of blue, white and gray.
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Design Review Board members at the meeting said they wanted to see more work done on the color scheme to conformto the village’s standards.
“I’m tickled to death Hertz is here. I think it’s a wonderful thing,” said Design Review Board Chairman Bill Glass. “Turning this building into a billboard is not my idea on how to do it.”
“We all want to make this work. I don’t think we have a solution here. We have a first step,” Glass said.
Board member Barry Jones suggested the companies look at color design options that would help break up the appearance of the size of the arena.
“Going with a single, monolithic color with a structure like that, the building is too iconic,” Jones said. “People know when they’re driving down the highway that they’re in Estero when they see this building.”
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Representatives of Hertz and Germain Arenasaid they were open to the feedback from the board.
“We’ll get with Hertz and see what’s acceptable with them,” said Scott Bryant, senior vice president of Germain Arena.
Jayesh Patel, a senior vice president of branding for Hertz, said the company can look for solutions that would work for the board.
Having yellow towardthe top of the arena is important for Hertz, he said.
“For us, matching the logo with our color, which is iconic, we think that’s incredibly important for everyone that drives by on I-75,” he said.
Most Estero residents at Wednesday night’s meeting spoke against the proposed paint design, calling the yellow color “garish.”
A large number of village residents in the audience opposed to the color scheme were from Tidewater, a community just north of Germain Arena.
Steven Novak, a Tidewater resident, said members of his community have largely unobstructed views of the arena.
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“In my opinion, this color is garish and ugly. I don’t want to stare at it for the next 20 years,” Novak said. “I don’t want to move. We love our neighbors and friends in Tidewater. We love Estero. We just don’t want the arena painted in that color.”
He said he hoped a compromise could be reached between Hertz and the village on a the color of the building that is “aesthetically pleasing to all.”
Richard Simon, a resident of The Preserve at Corkscrew, said he was against the yellow color design proposed for the arena.
Simon, who said he previously worked for Hertz, said the plans show “way too much yellow.”
“Having visited hundreds of their facilities around the world, I can’t think of any with this much yellow,” he said.
No public hearing is scheduled yet for the painting plans. The Design Review Board will vote on the plans when the project returns to the board for a public hearing.