Sacramento Kings Expected To Announce Final Arena Renderings At Midnight
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The Sacramento Kings are expected to unveil final renderings of a new downtown arena days after a potential roadblock to construction was cleared.
After months of seeing possibilities of what a new arena could look like, the actual look of the arena will finally be revealed.
The arena, slated to be built at the current Downtown Plaza, is set to open in October 2016.
It will combine both indoor and outdoor space and likely include a dramatic bridgeway over one end of the arena to give passersby a look at the game.
The arena is expected to have a smaller seating capacity than the Kings' current home at Sleep Train Arena, but have 50 percent more square footage.
Team owner Vivek Ranadive has said the arena will be the most innovative in the world, saying it will be on postcards throughout the state.
Season-ticket owners will be getting a first glimpse at midnight. The images will be on cbssacramento.com as soon as we receive them.
The reveal is part of an organized push. The new arena plan will be focus of the State of the Downtown address on Tuesday where Mayor Kevin Johnson and the president of the Icon Venue Group will speak.
The reveal comes less than a week after a bid to put a $258 million arena subsidy to a vote on the June ballot was stopped by Sacramento City Clerk Shirley Concolino.
Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork had collected more than the 22,000 petitions necessary, but Concolino said the group had used nine versions of a petition that had different wording. In addition, none of the versions of the petition included an enacting clause.
A legal battle over the validity of the petitions is likely.
The Kings acquired the Downtown Plaza property last week from a private firm in a deal where the terms were undisclosed.
A building that once housed the Macy's Men's store at 600 K Street is one of the last pieces of the puzzle for an arena. It is currently owned by CalPERS who have not agreed to a sale with the City of Sacramento or the Kings.
The building has been vacant since late last year when the store announced it was consolidating its downtown locations into one building.
Earlier this month, the Sacramento City Council approved taking eminent domain action on the property, a move which CalPERS did not oppose, but U.S. Bank, which holds a ground lease on the property, did oppose.