In DC, Jonathan O'Connell cites development plans as indicating that construction of a soccer stadium on Buzzard Point in Southwest DC "would require assembling properties from five owners, including the District." The 20-page concept plans, dated July '10, "propose a 'Sports & Entertainment District @ Buzzard Point' stretching from Nationals Park to a new D.C. United stadium." The private planning documents were produced by Dallas-based architecture firm HKS. The plans are "almost two years old, but D.C. officials say the team’s focus remains on Buzzard Point and have sounded a more optimistic tune with the team having nearly completed a two-year extension to play at RFK Stadium" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/12).
COMIN' TO YOUR CITY: Hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen said that he "hopes to reach an agreement in principle (pending the relocation of an NBA franchise) with the city and county by 'late spring, early summer'" on his $490M Seattle sports-and-entertainment-arena proposal. In Seattle, Jerry Brewer wrote it is an "ambitious goal for Hansen." The deal is "as creative as it gets in professional sports, and it's more enticing than any sports-palace proposal ever made in this city." Hansen "understands how this city operates," and now must "figure out how to earn its trust" (SEATTLE TIMES, 3/11).
BALANCING POWER: In Sacramento, Bizjak & Lillis in a front-page piece note a "key peg of the $391 million plan for a downtown railyard sports and entertainment center is a promise from City Hall to Natomas that the city will find a suitable new use for the 184 acres surrounding Power Balance Pavilion, current home of the Kings." The deal approved by the City Council last week "calls for the city and Kings to sell the old arena site, likely in 2015, to help fund the downtown arena." But, like "other elements of the complex deal, details have yet to be worked out." Natomas, Calif., activists have said that they "will hold the city to its pledge" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 3/12).
