Today the Sacramento Arena Task Force announced their favorite three choices to build Sacramento a new sports and entertainment arena. Developer Gerry Kamilos appears to have the strongest proposal which involves having the Cal Expo fair grounds move to Arco Arena in North Natomas, then selling the property to private developers, using the proceeds of that sale to help build the arena. However, Kamilos plan lacks any explanation on how a new Cal Expo would be paid for with the sale of the old Cal Expo land being used to build a new arena. This should be a question the City Council should press Gerry Kamilos on, where’s the estimated $100 million + going to come from to rebuild the State Fair grounds?
The two other proposals also chosen by the panel were the Thomas Enterprise Railyards project and a plan by developer Ali Mackani to build an arena with shopping, dining and a public park at the site of Westfield Downtown Plaza. An oral report will be made to the City Council on Tuesday the 16th.
Yesterday the City Council asked the staff to report back in a month with proposed language for a six-month exclusive negotiating agreement between the city and the developers, and report next week on the parameters of an ad hoc committee of the City Council that the mayor could appoint on the arena project.
ReplyDeleteThe council also directed the staff to begin working on draft legislation that would be necessary for the Legislature to pass in order to sell the Cal Expo land and create a tax increment financing district.
The process of evaluating the Kamilos’ proposal will continue over the next six months