On Thursday, the ICON/Taylor Group will present its feasibility study on a new entertainment and sports complex for Sacramento that would include a Sacramento Kings arena. Sactown Royalty received info on the study late Wednesday; the info was embargoed until after 10.
The final pricetag on the complex is the first question on most folks' tongue, and it's $387 million. That includes $241 million in construction costs and, according to the report, $146 million in "soft costs." The arena would seat right around 19,000 fans for NBA basketball (up from 17,317). At Power Balance Pavilion, there are 30 luxury suites. In the new complex, there would be 74. (!) The additional seating comes mainly in the form of 1,300 new premium and club seats.
The other big question answered in the report: when will it be done? The answer: May 2015. So the Kings would bring basketball downtown for the 2015-16 season. (Tyreke Evans will be 26. Check his ID.)
More info after the jump.
The biggest question of all -- how will we pay for it? -- remains to be seen. Those details will get worked out in the 100-day review period that was reported on Wednesday. The review period has three facets: a technical review of the plans and what's needed to get the construction going, a sorting out of the regional contribution, and the development of the (ding ding ding) public-private partnership.
There are some clues on that last facet in the report. ICON/Taylor used five arenas as the basis of the Sacramento model: AT&T Center in San Antonio, Sprint Center in Kansas City, Amway Center in Orlando, FedEx Forum in Memphis and a complex under development in Edmonton, Alberta, for the NHL's Oilers. According to the report, all of these arenas used hotel and car rental fees, arena use sales tax, and (in Edmonton's case) a provincial tax to fund construction.
The report also highlights the benefits of the entertainment and sports complex to the city and region: a project $556 million cash infusion to the region during construction and $25 million annually during operation of the building; $2.3 million in new local municipal revenue (aka, tax rolls bonus) during construction and $770,000 annually during operation. This is billed as one hell of a local stimulus project.
There are plenty of questions, but this is the skeleton of the plan going forward. Think we can do this? I think we can do this. Join Here We Stay on Facebook if you haven't already, and try to get out to the meeting on Thursday (1-3 p.m., City Hall) if you can. Let's keep up the momentum!