The morning haze hadn't lifted yet, but still the windows of Tim Leiweke's 23rd-floor office afforded a stunning view.
A few blocks away, in what about a month ago was little more than a hole in the ground at 11th and Figueroa, steel girders reached toward the sky in four quadrants. Concrete mixers, reduced by distance and perspective to the size of toys, scurried to deliver the material that will form the walls and concourses of the Staples Center. Already, the shape of the arena floor and the outline of the lower bowl were discernible.
From his desk in the project office at 865 South Figueroa, Leiweke has a splendid vantage point from which to watch his dream spring up. It's not his preferred vantage point, but the tribulations of building a 1-million-square-foot arena on a tight schedule usually prevent him from getting closer than a cloudy distance.
"It's wonderful and, quite frankly, awe-inspiring to sit here and look out the window and see the progress we've made on site, but I don't get over there to touch it and feel it as much as I'd like," said Leiweke, president of the Kings and executive vice president of the Los Angeles Arena Co. "That's part of being a corporation that's expanding on a rapid basis. We just don't get the opportunity to go out and, well, I wouldn't say enjoy ourselves. Maybe a better way of saying that is smelling the roses."
It will take tons of concrete, plaster and steel to make the arena that will house the Kings, Lakers and Clippers and is expected to infuse life into Los Angeles' somnolent downtown. It will also take $350 million, making it the most expensive arena ever built and putting it $100 million over the original estimate.
The increase is partly because of delays resulting when the City Council pressured developers Philip Anschutz and Edward Roski--who also own the Kings--into minimizing the city's financial risk by agreeing to repay $58 million in municipal bonds without using sales, property or utility taxes generated by the project. However, Leiweke said $350 million has held steady as the target figure for the last six months.
"Like any project similar to this, whether an arena or a baseball stadium, the reality is that when you get into the design phase, you think of things you want to incorporate," he said. "Certainly, the political process had an immense impact on the increase in cost, but we don't make a big deal about it. We are, I wouldn't say comfortable, but it is what it is, so we go on."
