Kasim Reed: City, Hawks talking Philips Arena remodel

[HawkItus]

Kasim Reed: City, Hawks talking Philips Arena remodel

 10:32 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015 | Filed in: News

COMMENTS 42

NEWS

Mayor Kasim Reed

 

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said Thursday his administration is working on a plan with the Atlanta Hawks for a significant overhaul of Philips Arena to keep the team downtown.

The city and the NBA team are discussing plans that would involve an undetermined amount of public investment.

“We will retrofit Philips. That is the agreement. The discussion is about the number,” Reed said, referring to the total cost of a substantial Philips renovation, not just a public amount.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said a deal is in the works to keep the Atlanta Hawks in downtown Atlanta. KENT D. JOHNSON/KDJOHNSON@AJC.COM

The renovation being discussed could total $150 million to $250 million, Reed said in a brief interview after he gave remarks at a conference in Vinings held by real estate publication Bisnow.

The Hawks have retained a firm to design the overhaul, he said.

That makeover could include undoing the “wall of suites” on one side of the arena, an element to the stadium that is not in fashion in the NBA. It also would involve connecting disjointed corridors for better flow of fans and opening corridors to the game action.

“I think it will be highly unlikely that you will have the (suite) stack anymore,” Reed said. Our building is the only building built since that time that did that.’

Many of the details are still being worked out and Reed said formal plans could come forward in the first quarter of next year.

The Hawks recently changed owners. The new ownership group, led by hedge fund powerhouse Antony Ressler, have previously said they could not rule out moving the team to another location in metro Atlanta.

Unrelated work on the stadium currently underway by the Hawks has suggested the team planned to stay in Philips Arena.

Currently, the arena is undergoing a significant cosmetic upgrades to the Hawks locker room area, improvements new ownership feel are necessary to the facility.

Ressler immediately upon purchasing the team said that the 16-year old arena needed to be remodeled or replaced. “There’s do-nothing. There’s remodel. Or there’s a new arena. Do-nothing is not an option,” Ressler said in June.

Center Al Horford recently acknowledged that Philips Arena “wasn’t the best facility.”

“I’m very happy, very satisfied,” Horford said of the current work being done at the arena. “I think it’s great that the ownership are taking this initiative to make everything better. As players, we really appreciate it. It makes it more enjoyable to come in and work and have more resources here. From a player’s standpoint, this is what we’ve been waiting for.”

More on this story as it develops.

[HawkItus]

I will admit I did not see this coming.  I thought for sure they would move to a more uptown location, or further south.  

[hawkdude55]

I will admit I did not see this coming.  I thought for sure they would move to a more uptown location, or further south.  

Koonin has said publicly before that he wants to remain downtown. I can imagine renovating Philips to remove the suites will be pretty costly, but I also know that the building is definitely not ideal from a revenue maximization perspective. I love all the development that's happening in Atlanta so any project with Philips, especially if the public portion of funding is sourced from the same hotel taxes that the Falcons stadium is, is more than OK with me if it's done right!

[Dejay]

I thought that they were headed to the Civic Center locale to make way for the eventual MGM vs. Sands Hotel death match once casino gambling is made legal after Deal leaves the Governor's mansion. I guess the two of them will go for the gulch area and Underground. I wouldn't miss either and would happy to see both of them uprooted.

I want to see what they design, though. The folks in NYC did a pretty bang up job redoing MSG so I wonder if the same will take place here. Probably...

[BigDog90]

I personally don't see nothing wrong with the Phillips Arena.

 

It'd be cool if they be like the Nets where you can order your food from the concession stand via app. 

[hawkman]

I personally don't see nothing wrong with the Phillips Arena.

 

It'd be cool if they be like the Nets where you can order your food from the concession stand via app. 

There's nothing wrong with Philips Arena. Where is all of this talk of moving or renovating coming from?

[HawksNWaffles]

There's nothing wrong with Philips Arena. Where is all of this talk of moving or renovating coming from?

I think it could use a little sprucing up imo. Perhaps some slightly better seats. I darn near fell out of my seat one time because one of the bolts became loose.

[Dejay]

There's nothing wrong with Philips Arena. Where is all of this talk of moving or renovating coming from?

It's called getting their share of the new arena/stadium pie before their window closes up. Kasim Reed already saw one sports franchise (Thrashers) leave town and a second one if you count the Braves moving to the suburbs so he doesn't want to be on the hook for a third one. Simply put, the Falcons and Braves got theirs and now it's the Hawks' turn at the trough. They aren't alone, though; from what I'm hearing, Georgia State has raised close to $200M of their $300M goal to make 'capital improvements'. Gee, I wonder what they're hoarding $$$ for besides converting the soon-to-be vacant Turner Field into a football stadium? 

As I've mentioned several times here, while it made sense for Turner to keep the Hawks downtown when he owned the team, it still doesn't excuse them for building a 20k-seat arena on a footprint that was already tight when the 16,371-seat Omni once sat there. Why they just didn't build out from the railroad gulch instead, I'll never understand...

[Guest]

Kasim Reed: City, Hawks talking Philips Arena remodel

 10:32 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015 | Filed in: News

COMMENTS 42

NEWS

That makeover could include undoing the “wall of suites” on one side of the arena, an element to the stadium that is not in fashion in the NBA. It also would involve connecting disjointed corridors for better flow of fans and opening corridors to the game action.

“I’m very happy, very satisfied,” Horford said of the current work being done at the arena. “I think it’s great that the ownership are taking this initiative to make everything better. As players, we really appreciate it. It makes it more enjoyable to come in and work and have more resources here. From a player’s standpoint, this is what we’ve been waiting for.”

 

Nothing may be wrong with it but why not improve it to make a better game day experience.  I really like the idea of opening up the corridors to the game.

Happy Players - I like that too.

[hazer]

Had them pegged for a move to Civic Center site. Either is cool with me as long as they stay intown...