Sacramento Kings Sold ? (Pittsburg: sales, buy, sales tax)

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by wburg

Just when you thought things couldn't get sillier...

Group plans to buy Kings and build a $400 million arena on Downtown Plaza site - Kings/NBA - The Sacramento Bee

The Downtown Plaza site wouldn't be a bad location. Still, they're $100+ million short on their offer, if the Seattle bid is really in the $500-525 range. The Seattle bid is also willing to pony up more for their arena than the Maloofs were, so it'd be interesting to see what the Sacramento version looks like. Chances are, they'd get more in Sacramento. The previous Sacramento arena called for $255 million in public funds for a less expensive arena whereas Seattle's planned called for $200 million. Sacramento's willingness to pay more for less than anyone else might come into play if the cities get dragged into a bidding war.

[wburg]

Keep in mind that not relocating the team saves about $30 million in relocation costs and would prevent default on the Kings loan, which would save the Maloofs $100 million--so $425 million in Sacramento is equal to (or greater than) $525 million in Seattle. Unless, of course, they decide to declare bankruptcy to weasel out of repaying the loan, which would net them $495 million after relocation costs.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by wburg

Keep in mind that not relocating the team saves about $30 million in relocation costs and would prevent default on the Kings loan, which would save the Maloofs $100 million--so $425 million in Sacramento is equal to (or greater than) $525 million in Seattle. Unless, of course, they decide to declare bankruptcy to weasel out of repaying the loan, which would net them $495 million after relocation costs.

Weasels can do no less. It's genetic!

[slo1318]

A downtown arena would be tremendous for Sacramento. I dont know about the DT plaza location, unless its an urban form arena and plaza which has happened in other cities.

[NewToCA]

I'd like to see an arena where DTP sits today, especially if there is some way to salvage the Macy's store downtown in the process. I'd also like to see a cap over the freeway, improving the linkage of K St and the new arena to Old Town.

Anyhow, I'm starting to get the feeling that Kevin Johnson might just pull this off.

[wburg]

Why not build the arena over the freeway? Kill two birds with one stone!

[slo1318]

Originally Posted by wburg

Why not build the arena over the freeway? Kill two birds with one stone!

No crazier than the Warriors new arena built on a pier.....

[wburg]

The "boat section" is actually a bit farther south than Old Sacramento, that's the coverable part (roughly between Capitol and R Street.) That would put it in the vicinity of the Crocker, CalPERS and thereabouts. A bit far south for Light Rail but handy for a streetcar line crossing the Tower Bridge and accessible via 3rd Street. The main issue would be Caltrans, as anything built over/under a freeway is technically still Caltrans property. It would make for an interesting waterfront view, and put it directly across the river from the Rivercats stadium. It would also create a physical "land bridge" to the Docks area and the proposed new/expanded California Auto Museum and Natural History Museum on Front Street.

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by wburg

Why not build the arena over the freeway? Kill two birds with one stone!

In previous discussions, I thought you liked the idea of a freeway cap similar to what had been done in Columbus to link up two areas separated by massive highways:


The Cap at Union Station


Now, if you want to do something more impressive, like the Cobo Arena and Convention Center in Detroit, I'm all for seeing what you think would be feasible.

[wburg]

I do like that idea, I'm just throwing out suggestions. The main point is that we can't bridge Old Sacramento to the rest of downtown with a cap on top of I-5, because except for its southernmost block, I-5 runs at or above the level of Old Sacramento on the approach to the bridge over the UP mainline. If you built a cap over I-5 south of Capitol to the O Street overpass and included Lot X and Crocker Park, you would have enough room for an arena-sized building. I can't imagine Embassy Suites would object, it would be directly across the river from Raley Field, and it might even energize some motion on 3rd and Capitol.

However, K Street has some fundamental advantages: I-5's on and off ramps were pretty much designed to flush high volumes of traffic on and off J and L Streets alongside K in exactly that spot, so it's better placed for freeway traffic, and all three Light Rail lines run a block away from its eastern end on 7th Street. Using the Lionakis ICON arena plan, with street-facing retail and J and L and utilizing the portion of the mall between 5th and 7th Street, would work better in terms of access for pedestrians, automobiles and transit. The ICON plan would keep the women's Macy's, the theater and food court (and the Hyundai dealership), the Ramona and Traveler's Building, the Marshall Hotel and maybe the corner building USF and ICF use at 7th and K, but looks like it would take out the men's Macy's (nooo!!!) and the eastern half of DTP (yesss!!!) It would also eliminate lots of potential weirdness involved in building over a highway--both structural and Caltrans-related--that would come with an arena on top of an interstate highway.

There are more important questions--like "how do we pay for it?" and "is the team even staying here?" that should get answered first--this whole discussion is still barely theoretical brainstorming, let alone a coherent plan.