SEATTLE (CelebrityAccess) — Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has selected a bid by Tim Leiweke's Oak View Group to oversee the renovation of the city's 55-year-old KeyArena.
According to the Seattle Times, Murray announced late Wednesday that they had agreed to enter negotiations with Oak View Group, who submitted a $564 million proposal for a a privately financed renovation of city-owned arena.
Murray, who is not running for re-election , said that he hopes to have a council-approved memorandum of understanding with OVG in place by the end of 2017.
OVG's plan, called “New Arena at Seattle Center” would see the arena completely rebuilt, except for the roof the Times reported. OVG's partners in the bid include David Bonderman, Jerry Bruckheimer, Live Nation, and Delaware North. Funding for the OVG refurb would come entirely from private sources, with $197 million derived from loan from Goldman Sachs, and $367 million in private equity investment in the project, the Times said.
Seattle's nod towards the OVG bid comes just days after Seattle Partners, a group led by AEG withdraw from the bid, amid criticism of the bidding process that included the public disclosure of Seattle Partners' bid while OVG's bid was kept private.
