Senate Bill 6116, sponsored by Seattle Democratic Senators Jeannie Kohl-Welles and Ed Murray, would direct some of the hotel-motel taxes collected by King County to renovating KeyArena.

The Seattle Times reported that when Bennett broke his lease agreement at KeyArena in order to move the Sonics/Thunder to Oklahoma City, he agreed to pay the City of Seattle an additional $30 million contingent on two things happening: 1) the Legislature authorizing money for an arena upgrade by the end of 2009’s legislative session and 2) Seattle’s failure to land a new NBA team in the next five years.

City officials still hope to revive the bill if the legislature meets in a special session later in 2009.

Nellams faces several on-going challenges as he takes the helm. Notable are the fate of the Supersonics and Storm, Key Arena tenants whose lease expires in 2010 and the needed improvements to the Seattle Monorail. Nellams will also consider recommendations made by the 2005 Mayor’s task force on sustainability for the Center and also from the recently formed Century 21 Committee.

The Mayor’s task force recommended restoring the budget for Center which includes hiring more staff. It also recommended dealing with aging structures at the Center including the Center House and Fun Forest. The Century 21 Committee is charged with building on the task force’s recommendations in constructing a 20-year plan for the campus.

Still an Economic Fixture

Despite the losses over the past few years, the Seattle Center has become an economic fixture in the city’s tourism industry.

• In 2005, Seattle Center visitors and businesses created $1.15 billion in business activity, 15,534 jobs and more than $41 million in tax revenue.
• Seattle Center visitors spent $396 million in relation to their visits to the Center.
• 6,489 people are directly employed by businesses at Seattle Center, 32% have full-time employment.
• For more information view the Seattle Center Economic Impact Assessment