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Wednesday, May 23, 2012
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Arena plans submitted to the city last December will get a second chance after developers behind a complicated land swap didn't produce a viable proposal on schedule, a city official said Friday.
At least one of the teams behind the other six proposals is still interested.
The exclusive negotiating period granted to the Sacramento Convergence Team, led by developers Gerry Kamilos and David Taylor, ends Monday. At Tuesday's City Council meeting, city staff will propose spending the next few months determining whether any of the other proposals seem possible.
"It's now time to regroup and touch base with our stakeholders – the NBA, for the most part, and Maloof Sports and Entertainment – and determine how to move forward from here," Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said.
On Sept. 28, the Sacramento City Council voted against Mayor Kevin Johnson's suggestion to end the exclusive period early. Johnson made that proposal after the developers couldn't sell Cal Expo officials on their idea to move the state fairgrounds to Arco Arena and allow private development of the existing fairgrounds in a deal to build an arena downtown.
The council also gave the group a chance to submit an alternative proposal.
But the group failed to present any additional information to city staff by a deadline two weeks ago and notified the city that it would not present an updated plan before the negotiating period expires.
"We have to admit up front that we have yet to find a solution that works for all the key stakeholders," Kamilos wrote in a letter dated Oct. 20.
"We know now what each of these stakeholders, what their needs and limitations are," he added later. "The real challenge is how do we mesh all those wants and needs and limitations together into a plan."
The group will continue to work on an alternative, which could involve a request for a bigger chunk of city railyards land to develop downtown. The group hopes to submit another proposal in January, according to the letter.
NBA Commissioner David Stern said he's lost hope that the Sacramento Kings will get a new arena.
"My optimism on there being a new building has faded completely," he said during a media conference call Friday. "We really tried hard. The Maloof family has spent an enormous sum of money. People of goodwill – from Senator Steinberg to the governor to Mayor Johnson – have joined in, and frankly it wasn't – I guess – to be, because we were missing an essential party."
However, Stern said he'll watch to see what other ideas may come forward.
Jeff Baize of Brookhurst Corp. said his team, Natomas Entertainment Sports Center Partners, welcomes another opportunity to plan to build a new entertainment complex on 100 acres of city-owned land just north of Arco Arena. The team includes Citibank, which would structure the plan's financing.
The group chose that location because it has existing infrastructure, traffic wouldn't be a problem as it could be downtown, and funding would be more attainable. But they're not sure a plan involving the Natomas site would be considered, he said.
"It's our team's firm belief that the city is not interested in looking at any other sites outside of the downtown area," he said. "This would present a challenge for anybody interested in a site other than the downtown location."
Johnson believes the railyards are the best location for a new arena, Johnson's special assistant, R.E. Graswich, said Friday.
The city won't give up until a new arena gets built, Dangberg said.
"The city remains as committed as ever to finding a solution to bring an entertainment and sports venue to Sacramento that is befitting of this region," he said. "It is not easy to do in this economic climate – especially with a real-estate based solution, as the convergence recommendation was."
Graphic provided by Thomas Enterprises in its proposal to build a downtown arena.
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I admit to having no knowledge of what is required to make that happen, but in principle it seems it might get volunteer community support which is better than taxing and might make this town feel like they have a stake in their sports team again. Anyone with more knowledge have any thoughts?
So yes, it can work, but there is still an element of risk.
Doh, but the developers are Democrats who give heavily to Democrat campaigns, so that's how that works...
and who is forcing anyone at gunpoint? you keep using that analogy. so far nothing has been passed. so far there isn't an arena. where is this force you are talking about? it seems to me, the public has had a say in what is going on. but for those of us who think an arena is a good thing for the area, we will regroup and come back with a different plan. in fact, it may even be one that makes sense for the area.
so in your republican mind, if the first time you don't succeed, just quit? "geezus h christ" if that were the case, there wouldn't have been an american revolution; there wouldn't have been a civil war; there wouldn't have been the constitution. the american way is to not give up. but the republican way is to preconceive the notion of victory, a la "mission accomplished", how is that iraqi war going anyway?
ARCO already exists, and the Maloofs have failed to even pay for IT.
How many more times is this stale proposal going to float when the primary beneficiaries are private deadbeat tenants whose only contribution to this project is heavily discounted rent???
This is how the scam works - Quid Pro Quo, otherwise known as Pay to Play - the local elected monkeys need campaign money - they give hundreds of millions of dollars of NO BID contracts, almost always through SHRA, to their developer buddies - seemingly in direct exchange - these developers donate HEAVILY to the DNC and the local elected officials who are almost entirely Democrats - it's actually quite a sweet set up they have here in River City. But most citizens are oblivious, or Democrats - so no one really complains - they may be corrupted elected officials - but at least they are on their team, so the rationale goes. The same exact crap goes on in DC, with BOTH parties. This is why America is doomed, and no election will cure what ails this country.
And don’t even get me started on the Citizen United case....
I am here to give a lonlely contratian voice in a truly dark and corrupted City. Most people (especially those working for Sac Press) could care less about the back story, or the realities of what is actually happening, they prefer their news sugar coated and easily digestable.
In the case of Sacramento Press, giving my community a platform to have conversations such as this does provide a different sense of satisfaction than working on software that runs a cardboard box factory, although I'd probably have to defend my intentions to the public less often.