KING5: KeyArena proposal to get two studies, transportation and economic, per Council President Harrell

KING5 News reports that the proposal by Oak View Group will lead the council to higher two independent consultants, one for transportation and one for finance.

Council legislation will be coming soon.

Seattle Council President 'excited' for KeyArena proposal, suggests deal could get done | KING5.com

http://www.king5.com/mb/news/local/arena/seattle-council-president-harrell-excited-for-keyarena-proposal-suggests-deal-could-get-done/447195988

Memo: Sunday, May 29, 2017, taking advantage of a 3 day weekend at the Seattle Times

Yesterday, the day Geoff Baker discovered a horribly inaccurate estimate he accused the council of "hiding" (http://archive.seattleweekly.com/news/963218-129/whos-winning-the-great-city-hall-seattle). Sorry he can't say sorry, zealots were involved.

Prize winning Journalist Geoff Baker reports that the $285 million cost estimate from the AECOM's 2015 report, "Identification and Evaluation of Options for the Future of KeyArena", was crap [summarizing] (http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/nba/seattle-arena-comparisons-have-valid-points-but-also-are-open-to-selective-interpretation/).

Here's the punchline to today's episode.

AEG, current operator of KeyArena, has a strategic partnership with [spoiler alert] AECOM.

Who? Hmmm, you might recall their name showing up in the Seattle Times editorials and the professional journalistic stylings of Geoff Baker, here (http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/nba/seattle-arena-comparisons-have-valid-points-but-also-are-open-to-selective-interpretation/):

On design elements, the SP group proposes "stretching" the roof over KeyArena's south end and filling in the additional space with more seating. While innovative, the design has raised questions about whether altering the roof would pass muster with historical preservationists.

In "stretching" the roof, the SP group's center-court scoreboard also could not hang down from KeyArena's mid-ceiling peak. The notion of an off-center scoreboard has raised questions about interior aesthetics the SP group has been asked by the city to address.

SP initially had Rossetti Architects design a renovation AEG president Bob Newman said in January would be "probably a fraction of the cost of what a new project would cost" and within range of the $285 million projection from the city's 2015 AECOM report.

But soon after, Leiweke began hinting to reporters and others that OVG envisioned a half-billion-dollar proposal. Around that time, SP brought in the Gensler architectural firm and within weeks revised its plan into the bigger $521 million "stretched" roof design.

Whether the city thinks that revised pitch was too hastily planned remains to be seen. We'll know when a winner gets picked.

That's Geoff Baker and the Seattle Times shifting the source of communication of the horrifically inaccurate remodel $285 million cost estimate off their names and onto Bob Newman and AECOM. A three-day holiday weekend is as good a time as any for this.

AECOM quietly shows up in the camouflage of names, AEG, Seattle Partners, AECOM as a cost estimator. Can we really trust any of the cost estimates in the 2015 AECOM report or the Seattle Partners KeyArena remodel estimates? 

I recognize estimates are by definition wrong, but a 98% error one way and KeyArena estimates shifts from $285 million to $521 million. Is Scenario C in the report $143 million or is it $285 million or is it wrong the other way, $75 million, which is much closer to the $20 million cost mentioned in the 2006 report?

Seattle City Council should issue a Request For Proposals in reference to the 2015 AECOM report, Identification and Evaluation of Options for the Future of KeyArena, Scenario C, in particular, costs and public/private cost estimates.

(https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2433954/key-arena-report-june-2015.pdf)

Sunday, May 29, 2017 the 30th story written by Geoff Baker that mentions the AECOM report since way back on October 25th, 2015. Not counting the last one where he finally explicitly rejects the $285 million dollar number and throws Bob Newman under the bus, he wrote 29 stories. He wrote (19 months) / 29 (stories) = 1 story every 2.8487692 weeks (or every 19.9413844 days). It just looks like Geoff Baker made a living writing AECOM in arena stories. I'm sure he did other things at the Seattle Times, too.

Here is the link to the Seattle Times search for AECOM by author Geoff Baker.

http://www.seattletimes.com/search/?query=AECOM&author=Geoff%20Baker&sortby=mostrecent&page=1&perpage=30

Note: No relation.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

Seattle, Wa
https://mobile.twitter.com/tweetmrbaker

Yes, KeyArenas Roofline is historic and iconic.

[this was my email, I cc it here]

Landmarks Preservation Board Members,

For the Seattle Center site, I prefer to have the Paul Thiry buildings identified as landmarks, including KeyArena. They express our architectural ideas to the world. Please, recommend preservation and if possible, recommend that remodeling incorporate some of the original architectural design elements.

Developers should at least attempt to keep the inside of that arena from being the arena equivalent of a strip mall by alienating exterior historical design elements.

Going forward, if a new arena is selected for construction in SoDo then part of the one time and/or incremental tax revenue must be used to bring the seating scale of KeyArena brought down to the original Seattle Coliseum size, 13,000, with as much of the original designer's  intent. It would be a unique size to this area.

In the 2015 AECOM report, Identification and Evaluation of Options for the Future of KeyArena, Scenario C (https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2433954/key-arena-report-june-2015.pdf), as a guide for scaling KeyArena down closer to its original size. This size was within the range recommended by Seattle Center Director Robert Nellams's to city council on 9/13/2012 (https://www.seattlechannel.org/mayor-and-council/city-council/2012/2013-government-performance-and-finance-committee?videoid=x22936 , => 28 min, 15 sec) to scale down to a capacity range between 5,000 up to 15,000 for KeyArena in the event that a sports arena were built elsewhere in the region.

Please consider, the city council could choose to remodel KeyArena into a modern version of its modern self, a split 11878 seat / 2905 seat with no competition for the 11878 seat theater, serving everyone that can get there without a car.

Legislation and an active MOU already directs a portion of the $200 million in public financing (2012 clerk file http://clerk.seattle.gov/%7Epublic/meetingrecords/2012/gpnf20120913_1a.pdf) toward mitigating impacts a new arena would have on KeyArena. The SoDo arena proposer is now declining much of that tax revenue. The city should extend a portion of the MOU legislation if they choose to approve vacating a portion of Occidental. Do not lose this potential revenue stream for remodeling KeyArena.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

Seattle, Wa

https://mobile.twitter.com/tweetmrbaker

The Seattle Times: Sodo arena proposal revives questions about KeyArena's future

Does Key Arena have a future?

It doesn't have much of a "now". It's in the city, covered, heated, and seats 17k people. That's it's unique appeal now.
The giant beams that are a 50 year old reminder of past greatness are the bones of a dinasaur, a pet dinasaur.

They should convert it into an amphatheater, strip everything out of it, build a stage on one side, pull half of the roof off the other side, having it to face into Seattle Center's "green space" and fountain. It would be cheap and useful.

Sodo arena proposal revives questions about KeyArena's future | Local News | The Seattle Times

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018743205_keyarena22m.html

Have a great day,

Mike Baker

Sent from my iPhone

Visit me here:

http://ManyWordsForRain.blogspot.com

Seattle Times: KeyArena's name to change; bank drops sponsorship

The value and timing of the renaming depends on the location of a new arena.
Seattle Center's arena could retain a tiny bit more name value if a new arena is built in Bellevue as opposed to some place in Seattle, but not much.

I am sure it will still have some value. The question is how diminished that value is with its novelty as the only indoor facility of its size in the Seattle media market removed?
Does it then get a local second tier name?
Does it get a local name that is an international company but valued at the second tier price?

The market is big enough that a new modern arena could make money without completely destroying the value of Seattle Center's arena, just expect it to be what it already is, second tier, when the novelty of being the only major arena goes away.

Seattle Center officials are shopping the naming rights to KeyArena, the city's high-profile entertainment venue, after KeyBank let its contract expire Dec. 31.

Bill Boucher, KeyBank's regional marketing director, said the bank valued the presence it got from the sponsorship but decided not to renew the contract.

"Like every company, we continuously review our portfolio of sponsorships and strive to improve their impact and return on investment," Boucher said in a statement.

Cleveland-based KeyCorp, the bank's parent company, paid the city $300,000 annually for the past three years even though it could have walked away after the Sonics left for Oklahoma City in 2008. Before the team's departure, KeyCorp had paid the city $1.3 million a year since 1995.

In a statement Friday, Seattle Center Director Robert Nellams said he was confident the city would find a new partner.
. . .
Boucher said the bank isn't shying away from Seattle. Over the past 18 months, KeyBank has established new sponsorships with the Seattle Mariners, Tacoma Rainiers and Broadway Across America at the Paramount Theatre, Boucher said.

Business & Technology | KeyArena's name to change; bank drops sponsorship | Seattle Times Newspaper

How did that work out?
As evidenced by the market, not so well.

What will Seattle do with Key Arena when a new arena is built?

What will Seattle do with Key Arena when a new arena is built? In order for a new arena to function it will have to be located near or in Seattle. It is unlikely that the City of Seattle will directly participate in creating a better arena to Key Arena.

Drawing 15,000 people that can afford a NBA ticket on a regular basis, 41 nights a year, is simply not ever going to happen again, no matter how much private money Steve Ballmer offered to improve a public building.

This does not mean the a new arena could not be located within Seattle on somebody else's property, in another location than Seattle Center.

What was lost in the fight where two conflicting parties were both right, the NBA has a broken business model, and Key Arena is not economically viable, was that the fans got screwed and the building remains obsolete. Congrats.

The NBA model is not viable, they know it, they intend to fix that next summer. Still, a new arena would need a NHL partner to fill up more of those night where the new arena is nit taking the high value concerts and shows from Key Arena. Key Arena's floor is not big enough for the NHL, with the cost of a remodel pushing that kind of project into just building a new arena. And that is where this is at.

The market will support the NBA, NHL, and they would support a new arena. Sooner or later, I expect it.

It looks like the NBA is a ways off from returning but Seattle should know that there is a market for it and the NHL, and that a new arena is a "given".
These things do take time, and politicians will not act until the forced to do so, but the end is near for Key Arena's ice cold hopes of a remodel.

For Sonic fans the golf course comments from former player Detlef Schrempf should give you some hope, and a sense of where the process is it.

Without mentioning names, Schrempf said Monday that there are people working to develop an ownership group and structure, raising money and discussing where to build an arena. He does not see that happening quickly, though.

“I think it’s still in its early stages,” Schrempf said. “Everyone hopes something will happen.”

He said there are several challenges to bring a team back to the Puget Sound region. In addition to paying the NBA a relocation fee — it cost Clay Bennett $30 million to move the Sonics — the new owner might have to build an arena. Sales taxes in King County helped build both Safeco Field and Qwest Field, but Legislature repeatedly balked at doing the same to upgrade KeyArena, which was renovated in 1995, or build a new arena.

Bennett said KeyArena was no longer was a viable facility for the NBA. Schrempf agrees.

“When we were there, it was always sold out and was fantastic,” said Schrempf, who averaged 16.6 points a game in six seasons for the Sonics after being acquired from Indiana in a 1993 trade. “But it’s an outdated arena and it won’t work for basketball anymore. If there’s a new team that eventually comes, they will have to build a new facility. That’s a given.”

Read the rest here, there is a nice shout out to the Sonicsgate docudrama folks. Schrempf discusses NBA's future in Seattle

Sonicsgate Trailer, full viewing 10/12/09 at siff

So, how does the media event on 10/12/09 Impact the Seattle and King County the elections being held three weeks later?
Since so many media members are in it there will be a great deal of attention to this event by the media.

iPhone users, there is a YouTube link at the bottom of this post.

Sonicsgate Trailer from sonicsgate on Vimeo.

The SONICSGATE documentary film premieres for free on the internetz Monday, October 12.

Peep the trailer live in HD at www.sonicsgate.org.

Featuring exclusive HD interviews with more than 35 key characters including Kevin Calabro, Sam Perkins, Brent Barry, Desmond Mason, Nick Collison, Doug Christie, Jamal Crawford, Aaron Brooks, James Donaldson, Slade Gorton, Paul Lawrence, Brad Keller, Tom Carr and Chris Van Dyk. 

Special Preview Screening October 9 @ SIFF Cinema in Seattle (321 Mercer St.)
Tickets on sale now at the SIFF Website

$5 -- includes admission to Sonicsgate Afterparty at Spitfire! (2219 4th Ave)

SONICSGATE.ORG

I lifted this text right off SonicsCentral.com

http://www.sonicsgate.org/   WATCH TRAILER HERE and the countdown clock.

Check out the video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILmtdQGxZUU

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

Sent from my iPhone
Visit me here:
http://ManyWordsForRain.blogspot.com

Steve Balmer, tell how supporting a Portland Trailblazer "home game" helps Seattle Center's KeyArena become home again to a Sonics team

At first blush I hated the idea of supporting the Portland TrIlblazers in any way (still do), and hated the idea of supporting the political entities that emptied the building of an NBA franchise (still do).

I still have a problem with Seattle Center's KeyArena not having an anchor tenant that regularly draws people to the city and fills the building all the way up into upper bowl with patrons that can afford an NBA season ticket, and suites.

I do not see how one preseason game with two out-of-town teams helps the Seattle Center's KeyArena get authrization from the state to tax sports fans parking/eating/drinking to fund a remodel the facility so it can compete with Safeco Field and Quest Field for high end patronage.
A remodel is the ONLY thing that would elevate KeyArena in the eyes of suite buyers, and the NBA entertainment seller.
And the city's facility plays second fiddle to the county facilities until things change.

In 2000 KeyArena began to lose suite owners to the new local facilities. The city and the Sonics did not anticipate such a thing happening way back in 1994 when working out the funding plan for KeyArena. In fact, in 1994 is was quite possible the the Seattle Mariners might leave their King Dome home to Tampa Bay.

The Mariners stayed, Seahawks stayed, both got new buildings with restuarants, bars, suites and club suites, everyday like a trip the county fair. So, the big money left KeyArena, and no matter how many "Joe fans" filled KeyArena stands the facility would not (will not) compete in Seattle.
Still, "Joe fan" kept coming after 2000 and it did not matter. They could fill almost every seat on every night and the Sonics were not going to turn an operating profit, and the city would lose money since much of their revenue was to come from suites.
The Mariners MLB and Seahawks NFL business models were not supported by the King Dome, and they were heading out of town for the same reasons as the Sonics.
The worst season the Sonics ever had, the last, the dead duck year, they still sold 13,000 ticket per game, and they lost more money.

No matter how many fans filled that hole, the hole could not be made whole, not the city, not the team owner. The fans did their part and it did not matter to the city, the team, or the NBA.

For some strange reason Seattle Times Sports Columnist Steve Kelley did not think fans would boycott the October 14th, meaningless, preseason game between the Portland Trailblazers (NBA media market "home" team for Seattle) and the Phoenix Suns.
And I had never thought of calling a Portland anything a "home" team, even for a meaningless NBA preseason game.
In fact, some people might be borderline offended by the very idea. I call them "Sonics" fans.
Poor tone-deaf Steve Kelley, he could hear the single note song of millionaire players asking why, and failed to remember the chorus of the 3,000 fans at the rally on the federal courthouse steps just more than a year ago.
Will local businesses rent suites? See Steve, that is what has been missing for nearly a decade.
It aint me, Steve, you can not hang the leaving or returning of the NBA to KeyArena on the fans showing up, or not.

And the the city, seeing this trainwreck coming since the groundbreak of Safeco and Qwest Fields got nothing done in making its building competitive with the real competition, not Oklahoma City, but King County.

To be sure, KeyArena manager Edie Burke does not have a clue why Joe Fan left KeyArena, or is just putting on a happy face for the press, either way the publc is not well served, and neither is Seattle Center and the surrounding businesses that made business investments based on a 15 year lease and 41 nights of Joe Fan.
The city council got nothing done for the long-term viability of KeyArena and the Seattle Center. The Seattle Center master plan was released last year with a half of a billion dollar price tag, price not including doing anything with KeyArena. Jan Drago has been on the council the entire time, maybe she could have done something, like lead.
Maybe the mayor could have been less of an asshole to everybody.
Maybe, maybe,maybe neither will lead the city in making the Seattle Center master plan and KeyArena remodel happen.
To be sure, not maybe the fans. They, we, were there no matter how poorly the Sonics owners and city officials responsible for all the other stuff involving KeyArena.
Hosting the Portland Trailblazers now is a risk, and if it does not go well then that is on the city and NBA. For it to go well could only be measured by what counts for the city and NBA, suite sales for the event, because the fans showing up did not keep the old team here and will not bring one back.

The only way KeyArena lands an anchor tenant that fills the upper bowl, and suites, is by remodeling the facility to compete with Safeco and Quest Fields.

So, the only way I could see supporting an NBA event at KeyArena is if Steve Ballmer told me why anybody should support the Portland Trailblazer NBA preseason game.

Steve Ballmer would have come on over to my blog and tell me why it is a good idea for me to support this game, and how it would help the effort to remodel the facility. He is the guy picked by the NBA to be the next Seattle Sonics owner.

Ya know, I have been writing about this thing for a while, and I have gotten and answered some strange emails from a variety of folks. Why not Steve Ballmer?
Mr. Ballmer, my consumable email address is next to my Facebook picture on this page, send me an email and tell me how it is (or become my Facebook Friend and write it on my Facebook wall, not holding my breath). I'll keep your email address supersecret.

I do not owe anybody any favors, and I have zero monitary interest in this (other than as a citizen). I think I have made the effort, I think a direct answer from the next NBA owner is not too much to ask for.

SeattlePI.com: McGinn: Viaduct tunnel 'endangers' Seattle's future

Mayoral candidate Michael McGinn was interviewed by SeattlePI.com's Chris Grygiel.
Here is the short of it.

Tunnel bad, surface/I-5 expansion good (I agree).

High cost is bad (I agree).

Cars and oil are bad (a mass transit that does not completely run on oil and is sized appropriately for every use I call busses and electric cars, we have one and the other is coming in 2010, so fix the roads already).

Fence sitting on KeyArena and Seattle Center. He gave no solution to an anchor tenant if that is not the NBA. He did not say anything about the $540 million dollar master plan for Seattle Center that does not account for KeyArena or how to pay for it, or how to justify paying for it without an anchor tenant in . . . KeyArena.

He's green (I think he has a fixed idea of what that is, and his funding sources like him that way). He needs to tie tunnel spending to the sidewalks not being built anytime soon if I am ever going to think about voting for him.

He's a people person (I'm people).

Read the interview right here!

Have a great day,
Mike Baker
Sent from my iPhone
Visit me here: http://ManyWordsForRain.blogspot.com

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles: Will push for stadium bill in special session

SEATTLE - It appears we have somebody beyond Sonics fans that actually cares about KeyArena and Seattle Center. Sure, Seattle Center is in Jeanne Kohl-Welles' State Senatorial district.

But let's not act as if it were not the responsibility of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, and the Seattle City Council, you know, people running for re-election.

She is being public about her role and responsibility, how refreshing. Let's hope, for this city's sake, she makes this work in September.


Read the story here: www.tvw.org sen-jeanne-kohl-welles-will-push-for-stadium-bill-in-special-session
Have a great day,
Mr Baker
Sent from my iPhone