Some important talking points on the new Seattle Arena Deal that has been announced Thursday afternoon. First off, it would be located in the SoDo district near Safeco and CenturyLink Field and would be suitable for NBA, NHL, and concert events.
Here were a few of King County Executive Dow Constantine's talking points in the press conference:
- No new taxes. The project would be self funded by private investors and the public contribution (no more than $200 million) would be paid back in full.
- Private investors bear project risk, and responsible for cost overruns.
- Public debt would be backed by taxes, rents of facility and these would be revenues that would not exist if not for the new arena. In other words, they wouldn't be cannibalizing other revenue streams.
- $300 million of private money would be invested into a facility and land that is owned by the public. Appears to meet requirements that the city has set, so Mayor Mike McGinn and Dow Constantine are appointing a committee to determine legitimacy of proposal (includes Lenny Wilkens, former city CM Jan Drago, former Deputy Mayor Maud Daudon). They'll be looking for a response within a month.
- Construction would create thousands of jobs, especially in construction, to help get Seattle out of recession. Games by NBA would bring visitors and tourist money all over the SeaTac area. Local economy would be positively impacted.
- There will be no arena unless there is an agreement to get a team here to occupy that arena over a very long term. There will be no public investment until that is secured.
More as we learn the intimate details..