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October 27, 2009
Developer: I wouldn't touch Sacramento arena plan
John Semcken of Majestic Realty took some time off from luring NFL teams to L.A. recently to throw some cold water on Sacramento's plans for a new Kings arena at Cal Expo, telling the Sacramento Bee: "There is not a developer I know in the country who would do it, especially in today's economy." No, really?
The best line in the article, though, went to Cal Expo board member Gil Albiani, who summed up the financing woes of the $1.9 billion development project: "There is a black hole out there that has to be filled with money." Curse that Large Hadron Collider!
Hm, no developer wants to touch it.
That's a shock. Not.
As a local, I still can't understand why they can't just develop next to the current arena. They own around 30 acres right next to the current arena, which happens to be where the parking lot is, and where taxpayers already forked over money for 3 great new freeway interchanges (for arena traffic) within the last 10 years. Plus, there's less traffic there.
When I see stuff like the Cal Expo Arena proposal, I usually wonder who greased whose skids, and what'd they use for grease?
Posted by MikeM on October 27, 2009 06:38 PM