The Oak View Group (OVG), based in Los Angeles, has produced a $564 million plan it says can have the arena renovated by approximately October 2020 – leaving it ready for the 2020-21 NBA or NHL season – spokesperson Steven Gottlieb said Wednesday.
One of the groups interested in renovating KeyArena for NBA and NHL is prepared to spend more than $500 million on a complete overhaul of the 55-year-old facility.
The Oak View Group (OVG), based in Los Angeles, has produced a $564 million plan it says can have the arena renovated by approximately October 2020 – leaving it ready for the 2020-21 NBA or NHL season – spokesperson Steven Gottlieb said Wednesday. The company’s plan involves maintaining the integrity of KeyArena’s iconic roof, designed by local architect Paul Thiry for the 1962 World’s Fair.
The arena is expected to be designated a historic landmark this summer, meaning the preservation of its roof and other elements would be essential to any renovation. Both OVG and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) – which declined to provide initial details of its proposal – are expected to file their plans with the city Wednesday to meet a scheduled deadline.
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A city committee is expected to forward a recommendation to Mayor Ed Murray by late June as to whether any KeyArena plan is viable and which group to go with. After that, a recommendation would be made to the city council – which would decide whether to choose KeyArena or a separate, new arena pitched for Sodo District by entrepreneur Chris Hansen.
Earlier Wednesday, The Seattle Times reported that OVG and AEG had secured key corporate partnerships that should aid in their ability to lure NHL teams to this market. OVG has signed a concessionaire contract with Delaware North – owned by Jeremy Jacobs, chairman of the NHL’s board of governors and an influential voice on expansion issues within the league.
Meanwhile, AEG is partnered on its arena renovation plan with Hudson Pacific Properties, owned by Victor Coleman. In 2014, Coleman and Hansen announced that they had a non-binding agreement to explore bringing the NHL to a planned future arena in Sodo District.
But by 2015, Coleman expressed public frustration with Hansen’s lack of interest in doing a hockey deal. That occurred on the eve of the NHL announcing an expansion process in the summer of 2015 in which no Seattle group wound up applying.
Public records showed that by that summer, Coleman already was holding discussions with AEG about exploring a KeyArena option. Under that scenario, Coleman would have brought an NHL team to Seattle and served as its owner.
Both AEG and OVG said their current partnerships are strictly about arena construction and operations and not related to landing NHL teams. But both also have said repeatedly they do not want to get ahead of league commissioners in trying to pressure them to expand to Seattle.