Economic expert tells King County Council arena poses little risk to taxpayers

Experts told the King County Council Thursday, the $490
million deal comes with little risk for taxpayers. One
even said he has never seen a deal with such taxpayer
protections.

Still, economist Dick Conway says the proposed arena will
not provide a big boost to the economy, but he said the
project does have merit.

“There are three other economic benefits that in my
opinion justify public involvement in the construction of
the basketball arena,” he said. “Public good, urban
amenity and economic development and urban growth and
renewal.”

Other experts told the council traffic would likely go up
by 25,000 through Seattle during the peak evening commute
with events at the arena.

Hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen has proposed building a
nearly $490 million arena south of Safeco and CenturyLink
fields in Seattle. The amount of public support would be
$200 million if an NBA and NHL franchise moved to Seattle.

Mayor Mike McGinn is confident this deal will make money,
and he hopes the council sees that. He believes the city
must move on the opportunity. “Or we miss an opportunity
for hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, new
jobs, and bringing the Sonics back,” he said.

Hansen and his group have run into critics concerned about
taxes, those who would rather an arena be located on the
Eastside, and businesses worried about potential traffic
issues.

In a study paid for by the investment group, traffic was
determined not to be an issue. But the Port of Seattle is
clearly not convinced and said without major improvements,
a new arena would “kill” jobs in SoDo.

McGinn has said he is confident the city can handle the
extra crowds.

“It’s an arena. It’s not a stadium. It’s 18,000 seats.
It’s not 45 or 70 thousand seats. It’s a lot smaller. The
events are at night. People get there a bunch of different
ways and we have more transit there than anywhere else in
the city,” he said.