This new arena puts an end to a issue that has been going on and talked about since 1996 as Arco arena was slowly fading into irrelevance.
Below is an article from the Sacramento Bee and here's an interesting timeline of arena talks in Sacramento.
Festive crowd lines up for Sacramento City Council vote on new Kings arena
Published: Tuesday, May. 20, 2014 - 5:18 pm
Last Modified: Wednesday, May. 21, 2014 - 9:06 am
Amid a festive atmosphere at City Hall, the Sacramento City Council voted Tuesday night to approve the construction of a new downtown arena for the Kings, ending years of effort and angst.
The 7-2 vote came after more than four hours of impassioned public testimony and deliberation by the City Council. An overflow crowd inside the Council chambers erupted into cheers of “Sacramento” when the vote was tallied.
Mayor Kevin Johnson said the vote marked “the end of one era and the dawn of a new one.”
“I’ve never been prouder of this community,” he said. “We had our backs against the wall and we defied the odds. We made a comeback for the ages and in doing so, I feel like we unleashed the very best that Sacramento has to offer. And for this I consider this Sacramento’s finest hour.”
Johnson was joined by Council members Angelique Ashby, Allen Warren, Steve Cohn, Steve Hansen, Jay Schenirer and Bonnie Pannell in voting to approve the deal. Council members Kevin McCarty and Darrell Fong voted against the plan.
“After 16 years on this council, we finally have a project that will bring 4,000 jobs and change downtown Sacramento forever,” Pannell said.
Kings chairman Vivek Ranadive addressed the crowd after the vote, saying “you have our promise that we’re going to be unrelenting in our pursuit of excellence in creating the world’s greatest arena.”
“This is your team, and it’s here to stay,” he said to thundering applause.
The council gave the green light to what City Manager John Shirey called “one of the largest, if not the largest, economic development projects ever brought before a City Council in Sacramento.”
“We’ve not done anything like this in the city’s history,” said Councilman Allen Warren, a supporter of the plan. A stream of business and political leaders also stepped to the lectern Tuesday evening to express their support.
The $477 million arena will replace a mostly vacant Downtown Plaza that has languished for years. City officials say they’re hopeful the facility will spark development throughout the central city. The Kings are planning to build a hotel, office space, restaurants and apartments adjacent to the arena, although no time frame has been provided for that work.
The arena’s financing plan includes a city contribution of $255 million and $222 million from the Kings. The city will issue revenue bonds that it will repay over 36 years, backed mostly by annual lease payments from the Kings and money from city-owned parking facilities.
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