While "all signs say go" for a $30M boost to the Target Center renovation budget, that "doesn't mean work on the arena will begin this summer," according to Nick Halter of the MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL BUSINESS JOURNAL. T'Wolves and WNBA Lynx Senior VP & CMO Ted Johnson said that there is a "50-50 chance that a bigger scoreboard will be installed sometime in the next seven months." But Halter reported some other improvements "might begin this fall" with the "bulk of the work" not happening until summer '16. Johnson said that there has been "some internal debate about whether to start facade improvements and convert office space into club, event and V.I.P. space, or to delay that work" until summer '16 and "do the entire project in a five-month window." That means other improvements -- like seating, clubs, concourses and a new lobby -- "couldn't happen" until '16. Halter noted work that was supposed to begin last summer "never did." Johnson said that "rising construction costs [have] delayed the project" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 3/24). In Minneapolis, Eric Roper reports nearly a year-and-a-half after the city agreed to pay $50M toward the arena, city staff returned yesterday "saying it wasn’t enough." The request to commit another $24.5M in public money to the project, "now expected to reach" $129M, "passed a City Council panel." But the agreement "could face additional scrutiny when it reaches the full council early next month." The renovation includes an "overhaul of the building’s exterior as well as major upgrades to technology, seating, crowd flow and loading bays" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 3/25).
