What is the purpose of the Golden One Center? (Oakland: low income, neighborhood)

[sacite]

Originally Posted by boingyman

I just hope the arena changes downtown for the better. Downtown sac has so much potential if they can pull it off beyond a new arena a few new shops/restaurants.

It already has. There are 4 new bar/restaurants open or in the process of opening literally right across the street from the arena - Pier 419, El Kings, Malt and Mash and Sauced (process of opening). Now one of the usual people is going to respond that all of that was in the works, was going to happen anyway despite the fact that the hasn't been a damn thing in those respective spots for the entire 10 years I've lived here. Golden 1 just announced Gwen Stephanie is coming right after Paul McCartney. People are going to spend money in downtown for these events and if you've been lately on a weekend, it's already night and day different than it's ever been - and we haven't had a single event there yet. I went by El Kings Saturday and it was packed. This is all a direct result of the arena and anyone with any foresight or objectivity could admit it. Some people are entrenched in being right though, and you'll never see them concede. Just wait as the national acts keep rolling in, march madness, etc. This is just the tip of the iceberg for downtown.

[wburg]

Lots of things to nitpick here in Sacite's post. For starters, I think he needs to look up the word "literally," because the restaurants he's talking about are at 723 K Street, which is about a block and a half from the arena, in the old Ochsner Building. So it's a true statement only for very small values of the word "literally." The statement that the building has been vacant for the entire 10 years he has lived here is clearly untrue--in 2007-2009, the space was occupied by a bar/restaurant called Three Monkeys, then by Antigua Cantina that was around 2011-2012. Neither place really caught on, for various reasons, and to be honest, it's kind of early to tell which of the many restaurants that will open up within a couple blocks of the arena will be successful. Some places, like the extraordinarily short-lived sports bar across J Street that was only open for about two weeks, have already gone out of business waiting for the arena money train to arrive, or maybe they just had a half-baked business plan to begin with.

Haven't heard of this Pier 419, but I assume the "El Kings" he's talking about refers to the newly opened "El Rey," and yeah, "Rey" does mean "King," but if your intent is to show how right you are, hey, maybe try to get the name of the restaurant you're repping right. That and Malt & Mash opened a couple weeks ago, and yes, Trevor Shults opened them with the hope of picking up on arena traffic--he's very into sports bars. If you're into bro bars and the brew bike, I suppose it's swell news. The Sauced BBQ joint isn't open yet. We'll see how long those places last once the new-arena smell wears off. Party spots aren't what makes an urban downtown--that takes housing, and lots of it. Fortunately, there is housing going up right across from the Trevor Shults bro-zone (a redevelopment project approved several years before the arena), but we'll see which (if any) of these restaurants manages to attract neighbors to their door, rather than depending entirely on suburban visitors (which is traditionally a long shot for downtown restaurants) and if there end up being enough neighbors to make downtown into a neighborhood again.

Although, maybe one should ask--is it sacite's expectation that the revitalization of downtown can be accomplished primarily with bars and restaurants? I like restaurants a lot, but food service jobs aren't exactly the kind of career that pays enough for those high-end condos and luxury loft apartments sprouting up all over the central city.

edit: The Gwen Stefani ("Stephanie?") event is apparently a private fundraiser for the Mayor's wife's charter-school charity, at $1000 a seat. It includes food and drink, so they probably won't be stopping at nearby restaurants.

[sacite]

Originally Posted by wburg

Lots of things to nitpick here in Sacite's post. For starters, I think he needs to look up the word "literally," because the restaurants he's talking about are at 723 K Street, which is about a block and a half from the arena, in the old Ochsner Building. So it's a true statement only for very small values of the word "literally." The statement that the building has been vacant for the entire 10 years he has lived here is clearly untrue--in 2007-2009, the space was occupied by a bar/restaurant called Three Monkeys, then by Antigua Cantina that was around 2011-2012. Neither place really caught on, for various reasons, and to be honest, it's kind of early to tell which of the many restaurants that will open up within a couple blocks of the arena will be successful. Some places, like the extraordinarily short-lived sports bar across J Street that was only open for about two weeks, have already gone out of business waiting for the arena money train to arrive, or maybe they just had a half-baked business plan to begin with.

Haven't heard of this Pier 419, but I assume the "El Kings" he's talking about refers to the newly opened "El Rey," and yeah, "Rey" does mean "King," but if your intent is to show how right you are, hey, maybe try to get the name of the restaurant you're repping right. That and Malt & Mash opened a couple weeks ago, and yes, Trevor Shults opened them with the hope of picking up on arena traffic--he's very into sports bars. If you're into bro bars and the brew bike, I suppose it's swell news. The Sauced BBQ joint isn't open yet. We'll see how long those places last once the new-arena smell wears off. Party spots aren't what makes an urban downtown--that takes housing, and lots of it. Fortunately, there is housing going up right across from the Trevor Shults bro-zone (a redevelopment project approved several years before the arena), but we'll see which (if any) of these restaurants manages to attract neighbors to their door, rather than depending entirely on suburban visitors (which is traditionally a long shot for downtown restaurants) and if there end up being enough neighbors to make downtown into a neighborhood again.

Although, maybe one should ask--is it sacite's expectation that the revitalization of downtown can be accomplished primarily with bars and restaurants? I like restaurants a lot, but food service jobs aren't exactly the kind of career that pays enough for those high-end condos and luxury loft apartments sprouting up all over the central city.

edit: The Gwen Stefani ("Stephanie?") event is apparently a private fundraiser for the Mayor's wife's charter-school charity, at $1000 a seat. It includes food and drink, so they probably won't be stopping at nearby restaurants.

You are the perfect example of someone that just cannot bear to admit they were wrong about anything. There's going to be about 30+ new restaurants, bars, entertainment venues downtown by the time DOCO is done, and this is just the beginning. But you're going to stick to your guns LOL! It was always going to come, either way. Hope you enjoyed all the people spending money in these restaurants, packing them to the gills. Because according to you, this wasn't going to happen and according to myself and others, it was.

[Sactoslacker]

I was against the G1C being built from the beginning, however, I was lucky enough to be there last night for Inaugural event and watched a rock legend perform. The whole Kst corridor was packed with patrons pumping money into the local businesses.
I'm slowly changing my view on the G1C because this area used to be the scary part of the old mall and it is now a viable destination.
Although I did not spend any money in the trendy restaurant & bars, I did search for a dive bar and found ice cold $4 24oz PBR's.
I'll be back tonight to watch Sir Paul for round 2 and $4 PBR's before the show.

Just sayin', the times are a changin', roll with it or get rolled over.

[wburg]

There was plenty of excitement and enthusiasm about the opening of the K Street Mall, and its 1990s remodel, with plenty of crowing about how cool it was and how busy the stores were by its supporters. How long, though, before what was once "the scary part of the mall" (btw, what made it scary?) becomes "the scary part of the arena"? Five years? And how many of the new venues and restaurants will last that long?

[MyNewsLogin]

Personally, I love the city crowing about the success of their traffic plan while ignoring a few facts:


1. Downtown workers started leaving downtown hours earlier than normal, emptying garages early and easing the traffic during the normal commute times.
2. People started arriving for the event as early as 4:00.
3. It was a clear, comfortably warm day and evening.
4. The concert was the only event downtown.


The real test will be when people stay for their normal shifts, people arrive for the event at a more typical time, it is pouring rain or 110 degrees, and there are other events happening.

[xeney]

I didn't go near the arena but I was out in midtown last night and took two Lyfts (both of which arrived within 2 minutes, slightly better than usual), and both of my drivers said that there were far too many Lyft and Uber drivers out for how much business they got -- they both said that everyone apparently just drove to the concert. I was a little worried that we'd see increased traffic all the way down here on the eastern edge of the grid, but it was fine, and the bars and restaurants were slower than is typical on a Tuesday.

I'm not an arena supporter but I will certainly cheer if it does not completely ruin living in the central city after all!

[sacite]

Originally Posted by wburg

There was plenty of excitement and enthusiasm about the opening of the K Street Mall, and its 1990s remodel, with plenty of crowing about how cool it was and how busy the stores were by its supporters. How long, though, before what was once "the scary part of the mall" (btw, what made it scary?) becomes "the scary part of the arena"? Five years? And how many of the new venues and restaurants will last that long?

The answer to that question is, when acts like Paul McCartney fail to draw - then people will stop showing up and spending money in downtown. I just saw a couple more big nane acts such as Bon Jovi which have dates to play at G1C. You are right that you can never fully predict demand, but people will always show up for a certain number of these events. I'm not into wrestling, but a lot of people seem to be jacked up about that next WWE event. When you have an investor like Ranadive making such a huge financial investment - not to mention the established track record of downtown stadiums in small/midsize markets - the result is fairly predictible. I think it's great for downtown and the beginning of a major transformation in our city.

[sacite]

Originally Posted by Sactoslacker

I was against the G1C being built from the beginning, however, I was lucky enough to be there last night for Inaugural event and watched a rock legend perform. The whole Kst corridor was packed with patrons pumping money into the local businesses.
I'm slowly changing my view on the G1C because this area used to be the scary part of the old mall and it is now a viable destination.
Although I did not spend any money in the trendy restaurant & bars, I did search for a dive bar and found ice cold $4 24oz PBR's.
I'll be back tonight to watch Sir Paul for round 2 and $4 PBR's before the show.

Just sayin', the times are a changin', roll with it or get rolled over.

Right on man!

[cb73]

Is anyone seeing all the Facebook posts thru the various news stations about people's experience at the arena? A woman talked about having to physically hold onto people to get to her seat without falling, a family leaving because one of the children was terrified of falling. Someone posting that if you're 6'1" or taller, when seated, your knees will be higher than the head of the person sitting in front of you. That's bizarre.

And a lot of people saying they loved the concert but will never ever set foot in that arena again.