According to excerpts from the story:
Getting rid of the congestion that occurs in the northwest corner of the Van Andel Arena concourse during heavily attended events isn’t just an issue of convenience or aesthetics for the Convention and Arena Authority — it's also about revenue. Quite a bit of revenue. The food and merchandise stands in that corner collect up to 25 percent of an event’s ancillary income, and having it clogged during a sold-out concert or game could discourage some customers from making a purchase. Ancillary income to the arena during the last fiscal year fell just short of reaching $1.6 million. "This is a customer-service issue. A lot of revenue comes from that corner and it is a bottleneck right now," said Lew Chamberlin, CAA member and chairman of the Operations Committee. To alleviate the problem that pops up about 60 times a year, the CAA is taking a serious look at expanding the corner. It is focusing on two options that Rossetti & Associates, the arena’s original designer, provided from a circulation study done by the architectural firm. One option would cost $425,100 and would enlarge the corner by 1,940 square feet, while the other would cost $875,000 and extend it by 3,100 square feet.
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