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February 28, 2009
Atlantic Yards West
Have you heard about the proposal for a massive mixed-used development that features an arena for an NBA team? Surpise! It's not the proposed Atlantic Yards, it's a proposal being put forward in Sacramento.
This first article gives a gee-whiz overview of the new proposal, but manages to refer to the project as "Atlantic Yards West" without a whiff of irony. No Land Grab readers should get a very strong feeling of deja-vu :
Fanhouse - Sacramento Gets a Look at Potential New Home for the Kings
Hopes of keeping the Kings in Sacramento moved forward Friday, as the NBA unveiled its plans for a huge development with a new, privately-financed arena as the centerpiece. The plan is absolutely massive in scope ($1.9 billion, 8 million square feet), with a new state fairgrounds, condos, retail and office space all apart of the plan.
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All told, officials call it a potential "city within a city." It is a truly massive undertaking, and any arena won't be ready until 2013 at the earliest. NBA representative John Moag said it will take at least a year to get a developer, and that shovels won't turn dirt until the economy improves. (The economy is worse in Sacramento than in most American cities, if you can believe it.) If you believe in the Sacramento Kings, keep your fingers crossing.
Luckily, the fine people at Field of Schemes are able to inject a whiff of reality.
Field of Schemes - Sacramento proposes Atlantic Yards West for Kings
The NBA and city of Sacramento officially issued their plans for a new Sacramento Kings arena on the site of Cal Expo yesterday, and you sure can't accuse them of thinking small: It includes a 350-acre "living village" with a new indoor fair space, and retail, office, and residential buildings, and a whopping price tag of $1.9 billion. If this sounds familiar, it's because it's a dead ringer for the similar office/residential/arena plan that is currently in the process of collapsing in Brooklyn, thanks to plunging demand for office or residential space.
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Economist Claude Gruen, a specialist in these kind of giant development deals, called the plan's economic projections "too rosy," and said it wasn't reasonable to expect it could pay for itself. But at least it's created some much-needed jobs for architectural sketch artists.
NoLandGrab: People of Sacramento - be afraid. Be very afraid
Posted by steve at February 28, 2009 4:50 PM