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How Very Suite It Is

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It was a tough decision, but someone had to make it. For Richard Brunette, the dilemma was not whether to lease the $250,000 luxury suite at Staples Center but how to decorate it.

The $360-million Staples Center, scheduled for completion in September, will be the new home of L.A.’s Lakers, Clippers and Kings. It will also be the first arena in Los Angeles to have luxury suites. Each is equipped with two refrigerators, a sink, food-service areas, an entertainment center with wide-screen and dual-screen digital television monitors, a direct phone line, fax modems, a sofa, club chairs and stadium-style seating, making them just about the hottest ticket in town.

Other perks for suite holders include VIP parking, a private entrance and a concierge to handle floral arrangements, team merchandise, catering and cleanup.

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At the Staples Center Preview Gallery, suite holders are given a choice of three color schemes: purple, gold or green. Each is a combination of solid and geometric fabrics that coordinate with the cherry wood cabinetry and black granite counter tops.

Brunette, chairman of the L.A.-based law firm Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, dispatched an envoy of six colleagues to choose the color. But when they returned with two votes for each of the three options, the chairman stepped in as tiebreaker.

“We tried to be a democracy, and when that didn’t work, I just decided to go for the green,” Brunette says. “Green is elegant, easy to live with.”

Of the 160 suites, ranging in size from 250 to 425 square feet, only 36 remain unsold. Priced annually from $197,500 to $307,500, the most expensive models sold out before the sales brochure was even printed, says luxury suites manager Karen Haggerty. Most of the suite holders are companies and law firms, although several film studios have come on board, Haggerty says. Staples recently announced that Tom Hanks joined game show host Pat Sajak and L.A. Kings defenseman Rob Blake as an individual owner.

With units practically selling themselves, Haggerty devotes much of her sales presentation to helping clients select a color.

“People are excited about these suites, the whole experience that they offer,” she says. “I can’t blame them for being fussy.” So far, most of the fuss has fallen in favor of the purple scheme, followed by gold, then green.

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Ray Taccolini, president of Crown Bolt in Cerritos, made the decision for his suite very quickly--green, to match his company’s logo. Now his debate centers around which items from his collection of sports memorabilia--including jerseys from Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky--he will use to personalize the suite.

“This is a very grown-up way to entertain,” Taccolini says. “The luxury. The pampering. This is my reward for working hard. I don’t want to clutter it up.”

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