On Wednesday afternoon the Cleveland Cavaliers announced to News 5 Monday that the team will not be reconstructing gym courts in the City of Cleveland’s recreation centers and also for schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District high schools.
The Cavs elected to make this decision following them withdrawing from their commitment to helping out putting $140 million towards the funding of Quicken Loans Arena transformation project.
If the original deal would have gone through, the Cavs would have helped rehab 40 gym courts and floors in the City of Cleveland’s recreation centers and all of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District high schools.
A Cavaliers spokesperson spoke with News 5 on Wednesday saying the following:
“The refurbishing of the city’s rec courts and floors will no longer happen.”
The Cavs also had this to say about the topic:
“This will cause the groundbreaking of The Q Transformation to miss the current construction cycle, which pushes the overall price tag of the project higher due to rising construction costs. This is a time sensitive financing package that included historically low-interest rates would be negatively impacted by further delay due to a prospective referendum exposing the project to an expected higher interest rate environment.”
Reverand Ken Chalker had this to say about the deal falling through:
“To lose this is just tragic. This action that they have taken on the Q project is off the rails, just off the rails. It takes away what could’ve been a great amplification in our city schools, in our neighborhoods and that is a great loss.”
Ken Chalker is a member of the Greater Cleveland Congregations. The Greater Cleveland Congregation is the organization that lead the effort to get a vote to approve the Quicken Loans Arena proposed $140 million renovations.
*Quotes from News 5*
George Thayer
August 31, 2017 at 6:48 am
So, If I have this correct and in all probability I’ve missed something along the way, the same people that opposed the updating of the Q (one of if not the oldest arena in the NBA) are now complaining that this didn’t go forward. Seems to me there are some pretty dumb people in Cleveland. This will certainly bring about new jokes about how dysfunctional Cleveland is. Between the Browns, the river catching on fire and now this.