Recently, the city received draft appraisals for the properties it needs for the arena site. Those appraisals, which are confidential, are being reviewed by city officials and the consortium of banks that has agreed to finance the city's site preparation costs. We'll see what happens after the reviews. The lending consortium is demanding significant control over a new gross receipts tax on businesses earmarked for paying off the city's arena loan. The banks also want the city to require their approval before it could repeal the tax.
Questions also remain about the arena's design.
Many merchants and activists in adjacent Chinatown want the arena to have a major entrance facing their community. The entrance, they said, will help ensure that Chinatown reaps some spillover business from the new arena. But a major entrance facing Chinatown is almost certain not to be part of the final design. Instead, Moore said, the city wants to work with Chinatown merchants to build new sidewalks and new facades for Chinatown's businesses. Then, I think the businesses there will be in a position to benefit from the arena's presence.