Additional details of the $564M financial plan “prepared by the Oak View Group for remodeling” KeyArena were released last night by the City of Seattle, one day after a rival bidder withdrew its offer, according to Geoff Baker of the SEATTLE TIMES. Previously, the city had “redacted the financial details citing confidentiality concerns.” The documents show OVG “plans to seek” up to $196M in loans from Goldman Sachs, “providing a letter from the investment bank claiming the company could be eligible” for $150-200M in funding without acquiring NBA or NHL teams. OVG said that it will put $277.2M of its own equity “into the pot and that the remainder” of the $564M renovation price tag would come from $50M in historical landmark tax credits and $40M in reinvested city taxes. OVG previously had said that MSG Co. was “backstopping” up to $1B in project funding. If the full $50M amount of federal tax credits “aren’t obtained, the MSG funding would cover it.” Same with the $40M in diverted city tax revenues, which the proposal “assumes OVG can obtain.” MSG President & CEO David O’Connor in a letter to Seattle Mayor Ed Murray wrote MSG has “significant liquidity and financial resources’’ and “is confident it could provide financial support for the project’’ (SEATTLE TIMES, 6/6).
