Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority Closes On Sale of Miami Arena

 

---Potential for a Baseball Stadium in the City of Miami Strengthened---

 

December 16, 2004 - (Miami, FL) - The Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority (MSEA) has closed on the sale of the Miami Arena. In his role as chairman of MSEA, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz signed the sale documents on December 14th.

 

The buyer, Arena Ventures L.L.C., paid the final purchase price of $28.01 million in full the following day. Arena Ventures L.L.C. also paid all expenses related to the closing. Arena Ventures L.L.C. was designated the purchaser by Broward Yachts, the original winning bidder of the auction held in August to sell the arena.

 

“The sale of the arena not only removes the strain of an under utilized property that was basically hemorrhaging money, it puts it back on the City’s tax rolls and, most importantly, allows us to pursue a Marlins stadium and renovation of the Orange Bowl,” said Mayor Diaz. “This is a truly historic transaction for MSEA and the City of Miami.”

 

The sale of the Miami Arena will release up to $73 million for the renovations of Miami’s historic Orange Bowl and a potential baseball stadium to be built adjacent to the Orange Bowl.

 

The proceeds from the arena sale will be immediately earmarked to pay off the bonds associated with its construction. The bonds must be defeased in ninety days.

 

Mayor Diaz and his administration have committed to converting the City’s abandoned, unused or under utilized and financially draining properties into productive public assets. At the forefront of these properties has been the Miami Arena.

 

Dubbed the ‘Pink Elephant’, millions of dollars were spent to build a structure that was practically obsolete the day it opened in 1988. The former home of the National Basketball Association’s Miami Heat and the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers, the Miami Arena was never able to retain major tenants.

 

Moreover, the Arena did little to revitalize the City’s Park West and Overtown neighborhoods as its proponents had contended. As Mayor Diaz added, “I would argue that it has had an opposite effect serving rather as an obstacle and an impediment to any revitalization of these neighborhoods.”

 

 

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