[jbradway]

Originally Posted by wburg

Well, not really. The $9 million a year from public parking is the amount currently generated by public parking lots and spaces (in 2011, the revenue from public parking was $8.9 million), and it currently goes to the city's general fund. It is the expectation that this $9 million can be redirected to pay off a construction bond, and other revenues can hopefully be used to backfill that $9 million.

The estimated increased parking revenue due to arena events were already spoken for in last year's term sheet--on Kings game days, the money would have gone to the Maloofs (and presumably to the Kings operator if not the Maloofs) and on non-game event days, parking revenue goes to the city (which would pay back about 10% of that lost $9 million revenue.) The other estimated fiscal benefits from the arena (sales tax, ticket sales fees, property taxes, etc.) are supposed to backfill the other 90% of that lost parking revenue. But they're based on some really rosy best-case-scenario numbers. If you went to a bank with that sort of pro forma asking for a loan, you'd be asked to leave while security was throwing you out onto the sidewalk.

However, a construction bond for $255 million at 5% interest would require payments of about $16 million a year. And an arena on top of either half of Downtown Plaza would require the loss of a significant chunk of those city parking lots, which means that $9 million becomes more like $8 million. The potential revenue is shrinking while the potential debt is growing. For those keeping score, that means this deal is worse, not better, than last year's dreadfully bad deal.


Exactly how much private money? So far we haven't seen a firm offer of any sort yet, and the only organization that had ever agreed to a specific dollar amount, AEG, is officially out of the deal.

I'm not anti-arena or anti-kings. I'm pro-math. This deal doesn't add up--we deserve one that does. Send it back to the kitchen--I want one that is "well done," and this is somewhere between "raw deal" and "half-baked."

I think you went off on a tangent there. You quoted me and then turned left. Nothing I said was wrong. The parking deal only works if the arena is built. The revenue to pay off the revenue bonds will likely come from a few sources that really only exist if the arena is built.

Really don't know until we see the term sheet on Thursday. But why wait, just pronounce it all half baked and raw deal before you ever read the thing. But yeah, you aren't anti anything.