SEATTLE — Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) president Bob Newman on Sunday sent a letter to Mayor Ed Murray officially withdrawing his company's ('Seattle Partners') bid to redesign and renovate KeyArena.
Newman's Seattle Partners group is a joint venture between AEG, the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports events, and Hudson Pacific properties, a real estate company "focused on acquiring, repositioning, developing and operating state-of-the-art media and entertainment properties" according to their website.
Oak View Group, which has billed its plan as 'New Arena at Seattle Center' is now the only remaining group with a bid to the city of Seattle to renovate Key Arena.
The 'Seattle Partners' plan envisioned the public bonding of three separate revenue sources - A facility fee at the remodeled arena, a future lease payment to the city from the company, and ticket taxes.
The plans to renovate Key Arena have drawn criticism from those who prefer the SoDo arena proposal from hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen. Hansen's proposal calls for a privately funded arena to be built on land he owns south of Safeco Field.
A full copy of the letter is provided below:
"Dear Mayor Murray and Seattle City Council:
We are writing to inform you that Seattle Partners must regretfully withdraw our bid to redesign
and renovate KeyArena.
We remain firm in the belief that our proposal best serves the people of Seattle, but,
unfortunately, significant factors through the bidding process have eroded our confidence in the
ultimate execution of this project, no matter which group is selected. We fear the City is driving
toward an unrealistic financing structure, and we believe the City has failed to conduct a
sufficiently thorough, objective and transparent process to properly evaluate the respective
strengths and weaknesses of the two proposals and, most significantly, to identify the proposal
best positioned to deliver a project consistent with the community’s interests.
The people of Seattle deserve a world-class sports and entertainment venue capable of bringing
back NBA and NHL teams. We have engaged earnestly in a process that we had hoped would
be relentless in its pursuit of that objective, and we put forward a proposal we believed most
certain to deliver a successful completed project that would attract professional basketball and
hockey teams.
Notwithstanding our confidence in the merits of our proposal, over the past two months, Seattle
Partners has actively sought feedback from community leaders, City staff and members of the
City’s Community Advisory Council, and, in response, we have explored improvements to our
proposal. However, consistent with a general lack of active engagement through this evaluation
process, the City declined to seek improved terms, refusing requests from us and others to call
for a “best and final” offer from both bidders. We have seen little indication of the collaborative
and iterative process we were told to expect and is typical of such requests for proposals.
In addition, the City’s decision to withhold critical financial portions of Oak View Group’s
proposal from the public, while releasing the financial details of our proposal with our full
support, raises serious questions about the integrity of the decision-making process and the
ability of the public to make a fair and equitable comparison.
Despite the lack of transparency, we are generally familiar with Oak View Group’s proposal,
including changes to it that have been conveyed via media accounts and otherwise. Based on
our experience, we have strong reservations about whether that proposal can be successfully
achieved consistent with the City’s best interests. If the City elects to proceed with that
remaining proposal, to protect the public interests of Seattle, it is imperative that you closely and
diligently monitor the process to ensure that Oak View Group is held accountable for all
elements of what it has very publicly promised to the citizens of Seattle.
Seattle Partners remains deeply committed to this great city, and we thank the countless civic
leaders who offered helpful input and partnership on our proposal. We wish the City the best of
luck in its pursuit of an arena project that can provide what the region’s passionate sports fans
deserve – to see the Sonics and professional hockey return to the Emerald City.
Sincerely,
Bob Newman"
Cox Media Group
