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| Sleep Train Arena Arial Photo |
Ideas ranging from demolition to a new state-of-the-art medical facility, a re-purpose plan for the Sleep Train Arena due by this months end is of much discussion. City council members met earlier this month in Natomas to discuss it's plans for the coming year that included the new arena planned to take over the Downtown Plaza and what to do with the old Sleep Train Arena. The new arena is planned to be finished for the 2016-17 NBA season and plan drafts need to be proposed so that there is time to gather the funding and resources for the re-purpose of the building, if at all. Because the new arena will host various events ranging from its main occupant, the Sacramento Kings, to concerts and other indoor sporting events. It is revolutionary as well in design, sporting massive retracting glass doors allowing sunlight to penetrate the arena as well as a way to bleed the sounds from the roaring crowds and balconies overlooking Old Town and river as well. In fact, the inside of the arena can be viewed by street level outside the arena. It perimeter will be lined with various food cafes and retail shops with wide sidewalks allowing people to mingle, creating a sense of community. In the Entertainment and Sports Center Environmental Impact Report draft found here, topics of noise pollution and transportation are discussed. As of now, the footprint of the new arena will be a minimal one as plans of light rail and bike paths with feed into the arena reducing the automobile traffic.
The original plan for the old arena was demolition as to eliminate the competition for the new arena forcing events into it. However, recently a city council members Angelique Ashby and Steve Cohn from Natomas started petitioning to have a state-of-the-art medical center. Ashby's main focus is on the HMO Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser has openly announced that they are actively looking for a place to expand in the Sacramento area but has not commented as to who they are talking with or what areas they were considering. Rob Azevedo, the physician-in-chief for the Sacramento-area Kaiser medical group, did not say they have in fact talked to the owners of Sleep Train, but did say that Sleep Train Arena has enough space for the transformation.
Other ideas not in the spot light are to convert the old arena to a College or Tech campus. No further information is available at this time. For more information on this topic and other news from Sacramento Bee, click here.
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