IN BRIEF : St. Louis Approves Sale of Arena

The city has agreed to a proposal for the sale of the 60-year-old Arena, the home of the St. Louis Blues.

The board of the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority announced Wednesday that Blues chairman Michael Shanahan and a business partner, Los Angeles developer Lewis Wolff, had been awarded the redevelopment rights for the site for $20 million.

But the agreement is contingent on a new arena for the Blues being built downtown--possibly just south of Busch Stadium or as part of a proposed $100-million equestrian center between Kiel Auditorium and Union Station.

Under the agreement, if a new arena is not built within five years, Shanahan and Wolff will not be obligated to buy and redevelop the 26-acre Arena property.

Their redevelopment plan calls for tearing down the old Arena and replacing it with a development of condominiums, offices, retail businesses and a hotel. Shanahan estimated that the project would cost between $150 million and $300 million and would produce 3,000 jobs.