Here’s our story by reporter Wendy Carpenter on Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announcement that the deal to remodel KeyArena is done.

Wendy also was nice enough to provide a transcript of Nickels’ press conference, which you can find below.

On the court in Dallas the Sonics played solid for three quarters but faltered in the fourth.

I talked to Nick Collison after the game and he emphasized the Sonics continuing to be professional and playing hard throughout the end of the season. Listen to that conversation here.

Nickels’ press conference transcript.

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Nickels’ opening statement:

Last month I proposed a solution to keep the Sonics in Seattle and to provide needed upgrades to KeyArena, their home for the last 41 seasons. It was as I said at the time, a game-changing proposal. It showed how a committed group of local investors could work with us as equal partners to secure a great future for KeyArena and the Seattle Center.

Steve Ballmer, Matt Griffin, Jim Senegal and John Stanton stepped up in a way no one else has and for that they deserve our sincere thanks. But their offer to pay for half of the investments needed to improve this regional facility was understandably open ended. I am disappointed to announce today that we are unable to meet the April 10 deadline for securing the full public investment in KeyArena.

This is a truly missed opportunity for our city, the region, the state and the NBA. Seattle pledged $75 million to renovate the public portions of the KeyArena, which would be offset from revenues of the facility. Following the state Legislature’s decision not to act this year, we look for other ways to fund the remaining public portion of the renovations without taking resources away from basic services such as police, fire, parks, libraries and human services. Unfortunately all of the options we examined provided too few dollars or required action by the state legislature.

But this is not the end of it – Seattle has been home to the NBA for more than 40 years and I am committed to working as hard as I can to see that tradition continue long into the future. We will hold the legislature to its promise made in a letter at the end of the session to continue this discussion during the interim and to take it up next session.

We will continue with litigation to make sure the current owners comply with the terms of their lease and we will find a way to ensure KeyArena remains the region’s venue for cultural, entertainment and civic events, and hopefully NBA basketball. To use that old cliché, ‘it ain’t over till it’s over.’

QUESTIONS

ON THE SONICS ACCEPTING A BUYOUT:

Nickels: “We have a court date in June and we are preparing for that court date and beyond that I am not going to comment on the status of the litigation or the potential for any settlement before that date.

ON FRED BROWN AND DAVE BEAN’S EMERALD CITY CENTER PROPOSAL:

Nickels: “I had a conversation with Mr. (Fred) Brown and Mr. (Dave) Bean the week before they announced their proposal and I’ve said that I think it’s an intriguing idea – and long term. I think it’s something that ought to be considered along with a lot of other different options. For the foreseeable future we think the NBA home in KeyArena is what we’re going to focus on.