REPORT ON NEW DALLAS ARENA COMES UP SHORT ON LUXURY SUITES

     Dallas community leaders yesterday were given a report which
recommends that Reunion Arena be demolished upon completion of a
new, state-of-the-art facility.  The report, commissioned by the
Dallas City Council, further recommends that a new arena have
only 60 luxury suites, down from earlier proposals of 144 suites.
The total cost of the 22,000-seat arena is estimated at $170M --
down from earlier estimates of $187M.  The 46-page report does
not make recommendations on how to finance the new arena, but
several Dallas council members said they hope that the city will
pay only a third -- and certainly no more than half.  Stars
President Jim Lites said that a arena with only 60 luxury suites
would be a "mistake": "Luxury suites are an important part of the
deal.  There's no arena being built anywhere with two teams that
has less than 100 boxes.  They'd be ill-advised to build less."
The report was prepared by a team of consultants, including
Ellerbe Becker and Austin-Turner Arena Group, a venture of Austin
Commercial and Turner Construction (Sylvia Martinez, DALLAS
MORNING NEWS, 10/19).