Sonics choose Renton site

OLYMPIA – The Seattle SuperSonics have chosen the Seattle suburb of Renton as the site for a proposed new $500 million multipurpose arena. Sonics owner Clay Bennett and King County Executive Ron Sims announced the choice Tuesday to state lawmakers.

“At this time the city of Renton is the most viable location for this new facility,” Bennett told a Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing on proposed bills that would authorize the use of King County taxes.

The taxes proposed to be used already exist and are paying for new Seattle stadiums for baseball’s Seattle Mariners and the NFL Seattle Seahawks, as well as for remaining debt on the now-demolished Kingdome.

Bennett said the decision on Renton, south of Seattle, was made late Monday night.

He cited Renton’s potential for economic growth, and said the 21-acre site is larger, more available and less expensive than a proposed site along “auto row” in Bellevue, east of Seattle.