The Lakers yesterday announced an agreement with El Segundo-based developer CDC Mar Campus for the purchase of an approximately five-acre parcel of land in the city, with the site intended to be used as the future home of a new training facility. The facility will be used by the Lakers as well as their NBA D-League affiliate the L.A. D-Fenders, and will house both teams' business operations offices (Lakers). In L.A., Mike Bresnahan writes Lakers execs want a "more modern training facility that they hope will also attract future free agents." The Lakers will stay in El Segundo "because they like the area and its proximity" to L.A. Int'l Airport, but "will no longer share a building" with the NHL Kings and a skating rink often open for public use. The Lakers since '00 have been at the Toyota Sports Center, "which was built for about" $24M by AEG. Instead of being a tenant in the new facility, the Lakers would "own it, paying for its construction but likely securing annual income via naming rights." There is only one basketball court at the Lakers' current facility and the team "long ago outgrew its office space." Several Lakers departments, "including marketing, ticketing, corporate sponsorships and community relations, are located at a building a block away." The Lakers will remain at Toyota Center next season, but it is "unclear if their new facility will be completed when they plan to target big-name free agents" in '15 and '16. The start time for construction "depends on a few factors, including approval by the City of El Segundo" (L.A. TIMES, 4/2). ESPN L.A.'s Dave McMenamin noted the "standard in the NBA as new practice facilities have been opened up across the league has become two full-sized courts," much like the Clippers' $60M practice facility which opened in ’08 (ESPNLA.com, 4/1).
