Bob Collins
The company that runs the Target Center is no longer for sale.
Billionaire Philip Anschutz had announced in September that he was seeking bidders for the company that owns or managers event venues around the country. But now, the Los Angeles Times reports, Anschutz is keeping the company and intends to get more involved.
At the same time, CEO Tim Leiweke is leaving the company, according to Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal.
He was the first employee hired by the Minnesota Timberwolves. As AEG’s boss, he was one of the prime movers behind the effort to get about $100 million of public financing to renovate the building, which has not aged gracefully. Target Center is owned by the City of Minneapolis.
The threatened sale of the management firm had potential to complicate the plan to renovate Target Center since AEG, along with the Timberwolves, were to kick in some of their own money toward the project. Those negotiations have not yet been completed.
Target Center regularly loses money for the city, which bought it from the Timberwolves in 1994 when the team was threatening to move out of the state.
