There are sweeping changes afoot at Madison Square Garden, the Wall Street Journal reported, so much so that MSG President and Chief Executive Hank Ratner is referring to the building as “the fifth Garden,” an entirely new arena that just happens to be in the same building. The first round of renovations is slated to be completed by October, in time for the Rangers’ home opener.
MSG executives this week gave the most detailed look at renovations so far. The Garden has been gutted and the locker rooms, Delta Club and 1879 Club are all only halfway completed. As previously reported, the project is expected to cost between $775 million and $850 million.
With ticket price hikes of 49 percent coming into play this season, being a premium ticket holder comes with a few extra perks. The arena will feature 20 new “event-level suites,” the Journal said, and customers in the exclusive Delta Club sky lounge will be able to see the players walking from the locker rooms to the court or ice. For non-premium ticket holders, there will be 50 percent more bathrooms and wider concourses.
Further installments of renovations have yet to begin. The upper-bowl seating area will be renovated in 2012 and two “bridges” suspended over the field of play are slated to open in 2013. [WSJ]