STAPLES Center and President Lee Zeidman have officially unveiled the completion of the incredible upgrades the arena has completed over the past four months and is excited to share the upgrades to STAPLES Center’s guests and tenants. As part of the $5 million dollar summer upgrade project, STAPLES Center completed full upgrades to all 170 private suites, 16 event suites and the premium level concession stands starting in May and recently completed on September 1st. AEG, the arena’s owner and operator, invested just over $7 million in 2014-15 to upgrade its lighting system to energy efficient LED lighting, added a new retractable seating system in the arena and transformed the TEAM LA Store to a larger retail space last December. The additional $8 million investment included the DraftKings Fantasy Sports Bar & Lounge and upgrades to 14 of the concession stands on the main and upper concourses, including the new Bud Cooler, that were completed throughout the 2015-16 season.
“We are incredibly excited about all the concession upgrades that we completed during the season last year, but we are even more thrilled with the complete upgrades and redesign of all of our Private Suites and our Event Suites,” said Zeidman. “Every year it is our goal to keep STAPLES Center looking fresh, to have industry leading guest amenities and provide state of the art technology to our guests, tenants, promoters and special events.”
STAPLES Center and AEG tasked MEIS Architects to create and design the new looks for all 170 Private Suites and the 16 Event Suites. The unique connection with MEIS Architects is that Dan Meis, Founder and Managing Principal of MEIS Architects, was one of the original architects of STAPLES Center. Each Private Suite has a sophisticated and contemporary feel with new carpeting, cabinet finishes, and wood grain floor tile, that all adds up to a distinctly contemporary design. All 170 suites in the venue will be updated to reflect the state-of-the-art in-suite amenity. Suite holders today prefer a more social, less formal vibe and a configuration that promotes interaction and casual conversation, in addition to watching the event.
With a palette of materials inspired by the carbon fiber and stainless steel details, the new suite designs evoke the qualities of a dynamic and technologically sophisticated machine.
STAPLES Center opted for a deeper color palette of black, grays, white and stainless. A centerpiece of the design is the new bar table, a high top table where guests can eat, drink, work and socialize. To keep connected with the outside world, there will be convenient USB chargers installed recognizing the common challenge of keeping one’s phone charged while attending an event.
“It has been an amazing experience being able to do focus groups with our suite owners and really listen to what upgrades and changes are important to them,” said Michele Kajawara, Vice President, Premium Seating Sales. “We could not be more excited for our suite owners to see and enjoy their newly renovated and upgraded suites this season.”
With the Event Suites, MEIS Architects and STAPLES Center decided to uniquely celebrate Los Angeles with different themes and significant moments in sports and entertainment at STAPLES Center, as well as distinctive neighborhoods that are part of the city. The parts of Los Angeles that are highlighted include Downtown LA, Venice, Hollywood and Beverly Hills, featuring custom art pieces by local artists in these suites.
The first installation of custom art was done by Yair Sarmiento, Mural Artist, Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) inside the Downtown Los Angeles themed event suites. STAPLES Center reached out to its partners at HOLA in the summer and came to them with the idea of having students and alumni create and design a mural and canvas artwork displaying what Los Angeles looks like to them. Sarmiento came back with a custom mural depicting the city skyline and prominent Los Angeles landmarks including his own font spelling out “LOS ANGELES” above the skyline. This is the first and only mural permanently painted anywhere inside STAPLES Center.
“It is truly an honor to have my work displayed permanently at STAPLES Center,” said Yair Sarmiento, artist, Heart of Los Angeles. “I have grown up in Los Angeles, just ten 10 minutes away from the arena and have been fortunate to attend a few events over that time, it is truly a dream come true to have my art as part of the new suite upgrades and I am excited for fans to see it.”
AEG and STAPLES Center Foundation are supporters of HOLA, whose mission is to provide underserved youth with free, exceptional programs in academics, arts and athletics within a nurturing environment, empowering them to develop their potential, pursue their education and strengthen their communities.
Additionally, there are custom artist pieces in the Venice-themed rooms by local artists Adrian Sandstrom and Christian Morin. Sandstrom created a custom ceramic tile piece named Aquosity with unique colors and textures that are combined through natural movement. Morin created a one of kind painting on three skateboard decks that he calls Silver Flowers. Music is also highlighted with custom show posters throughout one of the Event Suites primarily created by local Los Angeles artist Kii Arens, as well as a couple designed by Hatch Show Print in Nashville, TN.
STAPLES Center has been home to the GRAMMY Awards for 16 of the last 17 years and will host Music’s Biggest Night again on February 12, 2017. Having been a part of such an amazing event for so many years, STAPLES Center tasked its neighbors at L.A. LIVE, The GRAMMY Museum, to design and create their own custom Event Suite to display historic music items and share great moments in GRAMMY Awards history.
As the home of four professional sports franchises, the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, STAPLES Center has proven to be a home court advantage for the local teams with the Lakers capturing five NBA Championships and the Kings winning two Stanley Cups since 1999, while the Sparks captured back-to-back WNBA Championships in their first two STAPLES Center campaigns. With that said, STAPLES Center felt it was important to celebrate these and many other significant sports moments that have happened at the arena since opening in 1999.
Award winning and legendary sports photographer and Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks and STAPLES Center House Photographer, Andrew D. Bernstein, provided the venue a custom collage of photographs that marked his favorite and most memorable photographs he has taken at the venue. Additionally, there is a collection of the front pages from the Los Angeles Times celebrating the biggest and best sports moments that occurred at STAPLES Center.
With all of the upgrades and remodeling of our suites STAPLES Center was able to provide both Habitat for Humanity and the Union Rescue Mission with a considerable about of furniture to use. The donation included 100 coffee tables, 205 bar stools, 43 lounge chairs, 42 couches and 41 trash cans collectively to both organizations.
SOURCE AEG
