Even though groundbreaking ceremonies on a $51.6 million arena are scheduled next week, West Valley City officials are still scrambling to find the money needed to pay for the project.
One place they're not going to find any additional help is the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, which is already putting up $7 million to use the arena for ice hockey competitions during the 2002 Winter Games."No" was the organizing committee's answer to West Valley City's request for another $180,000 to build more exclusive seating in the arena, according to West Valley City Manager John Pat-terson.
Patterson said the money was sought during a Thursday morning meeting to negotiate the terms of the organizing committee's $7 million payment, including how much of the money would be in the form of in-kind contributions.
Those terms are still being decided, but the limit of the organizing committee's participation is still set at $7 million, according to committee president Tom Welch.
"We'd love to see more seats in there. But at this point, we're not going to be paying any more," Welch said.
The possibility of increasing the number of luxury seats was brought up during West Valley City's presentation on the arena to the organizing committee's board of trustees.
Patterson told trustees he wasn't asking them for the money, and they didn't offer it, either, although they did express enthusiasm about the progress of the project.
Patterson said later he hoped to find a private company willing to pick up the cost. A decision whether to add the seats will be made before construction starts next week, he said.
West Valley City's presentation included a video and architectural drawings of the proposed building, which showed seating has already been expanded from 10,000 to 10,400 seats for hockey, plus additional suites and luxury seats.
More seats - especially boosting the number of suites from 29 to 40 and the number of luxury seats from 1,200 to 1,750 - mean more revenue for the arena, to be home of the Utah Grizzlies hockey team.
Although the cost of the project recently jumped again, this time from $50.1 million to $51.6 million, Patterson and Grizzlies owner David Elmore assured the Olympic trustees the arena is financially viable.
Patterson said the arena budget anticipates a total of 111 events annually. "We expect to do better than that," he told trustees. Even with that many events, he said, "we'll do all right. At 150, we'll really do all right."
Asked if the construction budget would increase, Patterson said he's "85 percent" sure it won't. "I think we're pretty close," he said, adding that the city "has stepped up several times to make (the arena) happen."
West Valley City is contributing $2.5 million to the project, as well as coming up with a $5 million loan, a $1.5 million special improvement district and more than $4 million in redevelopment bonds.
The Legislature changed the law to allow taxes collected in redevelopment areas that were allocated to schools and other government services to be diverted to the arena. Lawmakers also gave the project $1.9 million.
The city still needs more than $29 million, funds officials hope to raise by issuing public or private bonds that would be repaid from arena revenues and the sale of naming rights to the arena.
Welch said after the meeting that he is still confident that West Valley City can finance the project. "They have given me no indication that they're doing anything but going ahead," he said.
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More inside
- Olympic trustees vote to increase their numbers, making room for more diversity on the board: B2
- The West Valley City Council isn't too worried about increasing cost estimates at the city's proposed hockey arena: B3