San Francisco's EDAW Wins $50,000 Contract to Tell City if Arena is Salvageable

EDAW and the Downtown agency are racing the clock as Orlando Magic owner Rich DeVos prepares to lay out his demands for a new arena in April. If the city and Orange County won't build a new arena for his National Basketball Association team, DeVos has hinted he may have second thoughts on keeping the team in Orlando.

The study is the fifth commissioned by separate arena-debating participants in the last 18 months. DeVos paid a total $200,000 for at least two separate studies. One, by CS&L of Dallas, concluded the Magic and its related companies have pumped $1.2 billion into the local economy since their startup in 1989.

The city paid a San Antonio, TX consultant $80,000 to learn it would not be cost-effective to retrofit the TD Waterhouse Centre as a new court. The estimated renovation cost: $110 million, the same it cost to build the arena 12 years ago.

Now the Downtown Development Board wants EDAW to determine if either the arena or the Expo Center can be utilized for any commercial purposes. If they can't, the worst-case scenario for the city will be to demolish the structures, a decision that taxpayers are expected to vigorously challenge. Taxpayers are still paying off $40 million in bonds on the arena.