Late yesterday, however, city officials announced that the two sides had resolved their differences and the project is again on track. At issue was the Devils' $100-million contribution to the project. The city is paying the remaining $210 million of the estimated cost. The team has been missing its deadlines for putting up its share of the money, city officials had been charging. The Devils had countered that the city hasn't been meeting its deadlines for clearing the Downtown site.

Under the terms of the agreement worked out by Newark city administrator Richard Monteilh and Devils' majority owner Jeff Vanderbeek, the latter will produce an unencumbered $100-million letter of credit by Jan. 24. "It will be posted on behalf of the Newark Housing Authority by a world class bank," Vanderbeek told reporters after yesterday's later-afternoon announcement. The Housing Authority is serving as the agency for the arena site and the surrounding redevelopment area. For previous coverage, click here.

In Lakewood, meanwhile, a proposal for a $40-million arena for a Devils' farm team is apparently dead. As reported by GlobeSt.com, the proposal was floated just last month for a site adjacent to the existing FirstEnergy Park, a minor league baseball venue. But at last night's township committee meeting, committeeman Robert Singer recommended that the project be dropped. The proposal traces to meetings in early 2005 between former national Republican Party treasurer Lawrence Bathgate and Devils' officials.

The major culprit, according to Singer and other township officials, was financing. The cost of the 7,000-seat arena would have been paid for with the creation of a new taxing district, which has no precedent in New Jersey and was ultimately deemed unworkable.

The second factor is that the seven-acre site is under contract to Beth Medrash Govoha, a rabbinical college looking to expand from its Downtown Lakewood location, and the township's Orthodox Jewish community openly declined to support the arena project, according to published reports.

Instant Insights /

GlobeSt.com UPDATE: One Arena Is On, Another Is Off

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