After years of discussion, plans for a new downtown arena in Louisville are moving forward with the announcement from the Louisville Arena Authority that it has closed on the sale of nearly $350 million in bonds, putting in place the financing needed for the project.
Arena Authority Chairman Jim Host said that with the sale of the bonds, site work on the 22,000-seat arena is expected to begin immediately.
The sale was handled by Goldman Sachs and was structured as all fixed-rate, senior and subordinate bonds. Host noted that the participation of J.J.B.
Hilliard, W.L. Lyons LLC , the Louisville-based company that will underwrite the subordinate bonds, was critical to the success of the financing package.
“We’re a local company, and we wanted people to know that we’re committed to the community,” Hilliard Lyons President Jim Allen told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “We believe this (arena) could lead to other great things” in downtown Louisville.
The facility is expected to be complete by November 2010 and will serve as the new home for University of Louisville basketball as well as a venue for concerts and other events.
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