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Philips Arena Renovations Finalized

Phillips Arena

Renovations to Philips Arena will soon be underway, as the Atlanta Hawks and the City of Atlanta have come to an agreement on the project’s finances.

There had been some recent discussions about renovating Philips Arena, which first opened in 1999. Talk picked up over the summer, when the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream announced that it would spend the 2017 and 2018 seasons at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion. The move was necessitated by the fact that the renovations were likely to take place between NBA seasons, thus making Philips Arena unavailable over the summer months.

Plans for the renovation were announced on Tuesday. Under the terms agreed to by both parties, the project’s $192.5 million cost will be covered by the city and the Hawks. The $142.5 million from the city will be covered a variety of funding sources, including $110 million from the extension of a car rental tax and another $12.5 million from the pending sale of Turner Field, with the remainder potentially funded by land sales. The Hawks are kicking in $50 million.

After studying their options, the Hawks concluded that a renovation to Philips Arena was a more feasible than relocating to another site in the Atlanta area. More from the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

Hawks principal owner Tony Ressler said in July 2015 the team was considering three options for its home arena — upgrade Philips, move to and redevelop the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center site, or move to an undisclosed location within the city. A renovation of Philips emerged as the most likely scenario.

Today’s announcement would come on the heels of last week’s news, which saw the Hawks hire Brett Stefansson as executive vice president and general manager of Philips Arena.

“The Hawks have established themselves as an innovative brand and have ambitious plans for Philips Arena, surrounding downtown areas and the Emory Sports Medicine Complex that I’m eager to be a part of,” the former general manager of the AT&T Center in San Antonio Spurs said.

The agreement includes a lease extension for the Hawks, who are now slated to remain at Philips Arena through 2046.

Image courtesy Philips Arena.

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