With "costs climbing" on the KeyArena renovation, Oak View Group officials are "seeking to defer" at least $80M in sales tax payments related to that project and an NHL training facility, according to Geoff Baker of the SEATTLE TIMES. OVG CEO Tim Leiweke, Business Development President Francesca Bodie and others were "meeting with state representatives" before putting forth a bill later this week to "delay the start of those tax repayments" until January '22. The bill is "similar to tax deferrals previously given" for the publicly subsidized construction of T-Mobile Park and CenturyLink Field, and Leiweke was "quick to insist he isn't asking for any debt relief for his all-private venture." If approved later this spring, the proposal "would allow OVG to put off its current monthly sales tax repayment obligations" until Jan. 1, 2022 -- when the "first of what would then become eight annual installments would be due." Those installments would "include interest at a rate yet to be determined." By that point, the arena will have already had its spring '21 reopening, a full WNBA Seattle Storm season and be "partway through an inaugural NHL season" (SEATTLE TIMES, 1/31).
