$1-Million Improvement Plan for Sports Arena Is Approved

The city’s get-tough policy with San Diego Sports Arena operator Peter Graham appeared to pay off Tuesday when the City Council approved an improvement plan estimated to cost Graham nearly $1 million.

After years of fist-shaking and threats, council members delivered an ultimatum to Graham, who has run the facility since 1971, warning him to fix it up or lose his operating franchise. Graham’s lease gives him the right to operate the facility until 2015.

The complaints about the arena’s condition peaked in June, when a San Diego County Superior Court jury concluded that the Sports Arena was not reasonably fit for professional basketball and ordered Graham’s company to pay the Clippers almost $500,000 in damages.

Renovation Plan OKd

In executive session Tuesday, council members approved a renovation plan submitted by Graham’s San Diego Entertainment Inc., which includes replacement of lower level arena seats, a new roof and the reupholstering of about 11,000 loge and upper-level seats.

Councilman Bill Mitchell, who has led previous city attempts to force Graham to clean up and repair the arena, announced the victory in a news release Tuesday.

“During the years I’ve pursued improvements at the Sports Arena, there have been several unfulfilled pledges,” Mitchell said. “Now . . . we have more than just a good-faith effort. We have signed contracts in our hands and a commitment to work more closely together in the future.”

According to Mitchell, a $332,000 re-roofing job will begin this spring, after the rainy season, and be completed by July 1. Reupholstery work, estimated to cost $187,000, will take about five months to complete.

Replacement of about 1,300 lower-level seats will be delayed until after the San Diego Sockers’ indoor soccer season is over, but will be completed by July, according to Phil Quinn, executive vice president of San Diego Entertainment.

Renovation Costs

No cost estimate of the replacement seating was given, but Mitchell said the entire renovation project costs approached $1 million. City officials set a Dec. 31 deadline for the operating firm to submit a plan to bring the arena building up to par, and its executives submitted the proposal just a few hours before the deadline.

Assistant City Manager John Lockwood, commenting earlier on the city’s newest effort to force Graham and his firm to spruce up the Sports Arena and to maintain it in better shape, said, “There’s a difference this time. This time when we threaten to cancel his franchise, we really mean it.”