After months of deliberation, negotiation and court appearances, the city of Sacramento won its appeal for possession of the former Macy’s building. The last piece of the puzzle completes the needed land for the new $448 million Kings arena scheduled to open in 2016.
But the battle for the ex-Macy’s building remains fierce. The City made an offer to the owners of the building, CalPERS and some mortgage certificate holders, for $4.35 million for the property. However, the ex-Macy’s owners believed the property is worth more than $10 million.
The disagreements during negotiations led the City to file an eminent domain lawsuit in January of this year. CalPERS was not against the City’s plans to acquire the property. However, the certificate holders were objecting to the plan. Their attorney, George Speir, raised the issue that the owners were not given a proper chance to object to the taking. He also argued that the City had incorrectly handled the eminent domain lawsuit. Ultimately, those arguments failed with the court holding that they City could proceed and the owners’ remedy was to challenge the amount of the compensation.
As the scheduled opening of the arena is in 2016, the Kings are wasting no time. The Kings future arena will be underway soon as demolitions begin in June. Sticking to a strict timeline, the NBA has stated that should the construction of the arena go beyond 2017, they have the right to buy the Kings from the City and move them out of town. Although Sacramento has acquired the property for the $448 million arena, it will be paid for by the Kings. The Kings have already spent $36 million on the Downtown Plaza for the rest of the needed property for the arena.
“Just compensation” for the property will be determined in trial and will include expert testimony on appraisal of the property. Meanwhile, the City still needs to complete its environmental review, create a financing package and develop an agreement with the Kings in regards to payment and development of the new arena. The development agreement will be introduced to the City Council late April or early May. The City has also indicated that it will be contributing a $258 million subsidy towards the project. Stay tuned for more updates on the new Sacramento King’s arena.
Author: A.J. Hazarabedian
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