The arena bond sale has successfully taken place. After seemingly endless negotiations, market ups and downs, and potholes everywhere in the road, the Louisville Arena Authority finally has the money secured to begin construction on the the downtown facility.
The deal was announced at 3:00 p.m. today after arena chairman Jim Host called an emergency meeting. The new budget for the mega-project dropped some $25 million to $227 million, and the deal struck today has raised $334 million to cover all construction costs for the facility.
- Louisville Arena Authority (Official Site)
- Louisville Arena Project raises funds to begin construction (Fox 41)
- Arena authority completes financing (C-J)
Latest posts by Branden Klayko (see all)
I'm glad to see this thing get off the ground. In fact, I'm glad to see any project downtown get financing. I'm sad, though, about the design, which adds to the tackiness element created by the Galt House. It would be so much better to match up with the cool drama of Museum Plaza (Please, please, please build it!). Having seen the edgy elegance of Beijing's Bird's Nest and the Water Cube, it's disappointing to have to anticipate a building that looks like a big-box suburban piece of shlock that will look dated and worn in five years.
The best thing about the restaurant Rivue is that diners don't have to look at the Galt House. Now they'll have to look at that Arena.