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Allentown arena won't open until 2014
Documents prepared for $234 million bond sale show project will miss fall 2013 target date.
By Matt Assad and Scott Kraus, Of The Morning Call
11:45 PM EDT, September 6, 2012
Allentown's $234 million hockey arena complex will not open until 2014, according to documents being used to sell bonds to pay for the project.
For months, city officials and team owners, while acknowledging that the project was months behind schedule, have consistently said they were planning to have the arena open for the 2013-14 hockey season.
But that's not the story being presented to prospective buyers of the bonds that will fund the arena, office building and hotel project at Seventh and Hamilton streets. Documents being used this month to sell $234 million worth of revenue bonds clearly — and repeatedly — list substantial completion of the project as "no later than August 1, 2014."
More to the point, they state when people can expect the puck to drop at center ice.
"The Arena is scheduled to open for the 2014 hockey season," according to a statement on Page 7 of documents drawn up to attract buyers for the bond sale.
State Rep. Jennifer Mann, a member of the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority that is overseeing the arena project, late Thursday confirmed that there will likely be no hockey next year.
"I would be very surprised if that building was ready this time next year," Mann said. "I don't know that anybody has quite been willing to say that formally, but I think all signs point to 2014."
City's special bond counsel Marc Feller last week cautioned that the bond documents were tentative until the bond sale occurred, but he also noted that under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission law, the documents were required to be truthful and accurate. No place in the 73-page document does it open the possibility that the arena could open in September 2013.
Allentown's downtown project includes an 8,500-seat arena attached to a seven-story office building along Hamilton Street and a 180-room hotel along Seventh Street. Billed as the catalyst that will reverse three decades of downtown decay, the arena was scheduled to open in September 2013, when the American Hockey League Phantoms would take the ice for the first time in Allentown.
However, 18 municipalities and one school district in March sued to challenge the use of suburban tax collections to help pay for the arena. The arena is funded primarily through the city's 127-acre Neighborhood Improvement Zone, where all local and state taxes, except real estate, can be used to help fund the arena.
The legal action slowed construction to a crawl because it prevented the city from being able to sell the bonds to fund it.
A change to the state law in late June removed the suburban money from the equation. That prompted the towns to drop their Commonwealth Court case, but not before it had delayed the project by more than three months.
"It's pretty apparent the 2013 season was a stretch regardless," Mann said. "Then when you throw in the litigation and the delay there, that was an additional stress. The reality is we need to make sure we are doing this properly."
She said rushing to meet an unrealistic deadline could inflate costs. Finishing it with an eye to 2014 will avoid costly overtime expenses and allow the arena to open at the same time as the adjacent hotel and office complex.
Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, team owners Jim and Rob Brooks and officials from construction managers Alvin H. Butz all declined to comment Thursday.
Asked about the 2014 arena opening date in the bond documents, Allentown Department of Community and Economic Development Director Sara Hailstone referred to language contained elsewhere in the bond prospectus.
"The bond documents say 'no later than August 1, 2014," she said. "That's a conservative estimate. We have been focused on the financial part of the project. We can now put more focus on the construction part."
The Phantoms have for weeks been contacting more than 2,000 fans who showed interest in buying season tickets. Hundreds of fans have committed to season tickets, placing a $100 deposit per ticket and committing to buying at least three years. Tickets buyers have been told to expect a packet detailing a 10-installment payment plan.
"People are excited. Interest is high," said Erik Hansen, Phantoms vice president of ticket sales. "We're still selling season tickets for 2013 until someone tells us otherwise. We are telling people that they will not be charged for any games that aren't played on Hamilton Street."
With the Spectrum in Philadelphia slated for demolition in 2010, the Phantoms moved in 2009 to Glens Falls, N.Y., until the Allentown arena could be built. The team does have an option in its contract with Glens Falls to play the 2013-14 season there. |
