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November 16, 2009
Developers eager to host Kings arena, but mum on money
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's call for ideas for a new Kings arena is generating plenty of ideas, if nothing else. Both Thomas Enterprises, the developer for most of Sacramento's downtown railyard, and Gerry Kamilos, a local developer who doesn't have a site picked out, say they plan to submit proposal's to the mayor's new arena task force, and other developers have expressed interest as well.
Of course, the key question in these cases is seldom "Who's going to build it?" or "Where will it be built?" but rather "Who will pay for it?" So far, at least, nobody's talking funding sources — something that has proven to be problematic, to say the least, in the past.
I find the timing on this to be quite curious.
They want to put together proposals within the next 45 days for a new arena, but developers are not willing to take the risk. Why 45 days?
I wouldn't ask why if I didn't have my own theory.
The deadline to apply to move a franchise comes at the end of February. It strikes me that this timing is far too coincidental. I believe that in the background, the NBA is pressuring KJ to come up with an answer, because they've been trying for 10 years and patience is now down to its last thread.
What I worry about is, of course, a TIF. KJ keeps saying that it will involve no new taxes, but a TIF was proposed for the dying Cal Expo proposal. He can say, "No new taxes were used for this!", and technically, he'll be right.
So let's press him on DIVERTED tax dollars. "Okay, KJ, there are no new taxes. How about diverted taxes?".
I am willing to go along with 20% public involvement -- and that's it. At 21%, I'm out. But since this will probably be a combination TIF and a ticket surcharge, and will probably amount to more like 60%, I won't get to vote; we don't get to vote on TIFs and surcharges in CA.
Here's the Bee article:
http://www.sacbee.com/arena/story/2322482.html
Posted by MikeM on November 17, 2009 01:41 PM