An investment group controlled by the owner of the St. Louis Rams NFL team has joined forces with Stockbridge Capital Group, which owns the 298-acre Hollywood Park site in Inglewood, Calif., to add an 80,000-seat football stadium and 6,000-seat performance arena to a massive mixed-use development Stockbridge already has in the works, according to the Los Angeles Times and other news reports.
A year ago, Kroenke Group purchased 60 acres of land adjacent to the Forum arena in Inglewood. With its deal with Stockbridge, Kroenke Group’s owner, billionaire real estate developer Stan Kroenke, becomes the first existing NFL owner to control enough land in the Los Angeles market to accommodate a football stadium and parking since the Rams left L.A. for St. Louis after the 1994 season.
For decades, team owners in other cities have used the threat of relocating to Los Angeles as leverage for negotiating improvements to their own stadiums from local municipalities or states. And Kroenke has expressed displeasure with the conditions of Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, where the Rams currently play.
The Times reports that next month the Rams can opt out of its 30-year lease in St. Louis 10 years early and convert it to a year-to-year arrangement. But the earliest the Rams could relocate to Los Angeles would be 2016.
No tax dollars would be used to build the Hollywood Park development, including the stadium. The investors are already gathering signatures to put the project onto the city’s municipal ballot this year. Inglewood’s Mayor James Butts, Jr. is on record supporting this project, which the investors have dubbed the City of Champions Revitalization Project.
The developer Wilson Meany, with offices in L.A. and San Francisco, is heading up this development, which, if approved, could be completed by 2018. HKS Architects is also involved in this project.
Kroenke and Stockbridge’s proposal is competing with at least two other plans for new stadiums in or around L.A. The entertainment giant AEG, which owns this city’s professional hockey and soccer teams, wants to build a $1.5 billion football stadium in downtown L.A., called Farmers Field, along with a new wing for the city’s nearby convention center. Another real estate magnate, Ed Roski, has had a stadium plan for City of Industry, Calif., on the table for several years. However, neither of these competing plans has mustered a commitment from an NFL team to relocate.
The Hollywood Park project would include more than 4 million sf of retail, office, and residential space, and 25 acres of parks. But to move forward, the Rams would have to commit to moving, and the project would need to get past any political or environmental opposition.
Related Stories
| Oct 4, 2013
Nifty video shows planned development of La Sagrada Familia basilica
After 144 years, construction on Gaudi's iconic Barcelona edifice is picking up speed, with a projected end date of 2026.
| Oct 4, 2013
Mack Urban, AECOM acquire six acres for development in LA's South Park district
Mack Urban and AECOM Capital, the investment fund of AECOM Technology Corporation (NYSE: ACM), have acquired six acres of land in downtown Los Angeles’ South Park district located in the central business district (CBD).
| Oct 4, 2013
CRB opens Atlanta office
Georgia’s status as a burgeoning hub for the life sciences industry has fueled CRB’s decision to open an office in Atlanta to better serve its clients in the market. CRB is a leading provider of engineering, design and construction services for customers in the biotech, pharmaceutical and life sciences industries.
| Sep 27, 2013
NYC releases first year-to-year energy performance data on commercial properties
A new report provides information on energy performance of New York City's largest buildings (mostly commercial, multi-family residential). It provides an analysis of 2011 data from city-required energy “benchmarking”—or the tracking and comparison of energy performance—in more than 24,000 buildings that are over 50,000 square feet.
| Sep 27, 2013
ASHRAE/IES publish first standard focused on commissioning process
ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 202, Commissioning Process for Buildings and Systems, identifies the minimum acceptable commissioning process for buildings and systems as described in ASHRAE’s Guideline 0-2005, The Commissioning Process. Standard 202 is ASHRAE’s first standard focused on the commissioning process.
| Sep 26, 2013
6 ways to maximize home-field advantage in sports venue design
Home-field advantage can play a significant role in game outcomes. Here are ways AEC firms can help create the conditions that draw big crowds, energize the home team to perform better, and disrupt visiting players.
| Sep 26, 2013
Literature review affirms benefits of daylighting, architectural glazing
The use of glass as a building material positively impacts learning, healing, productivity and well-being, according to a white paper published by Guardian Industries and the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. The findings highlight the significant influence daylighting and outside views have on employees, workers, students, consumers and patients.
| Sep 26, 2013
Mobilizing your job site to achieve a paperless project: fact or fiction?
True mobility in the field has rapidly evolved from lock-box kiosks on each floor to laptops on rolling carts to tablets and iPads loaded with drawings sets stored in the cloud. And WiFi-ready job sites have gone from “nice to have” to “must have” status in just a little over a year.
| Sep 26, 2013
Leading in the face of change
As AEC firms navigate toward an uncertain future, the most effective leaders are those who eagerly adapt to change. Here are three attitudes that drive leaders who are of most value to their firms.
| Sep 23, 2013
The art of rewarding employees
What’s the best way to reward those employees who go the extra mile, particularly when it’s not always feasible to give large financial bonuses? According to author and “recognition expert” Dr. Bob Nelson, the most effective employee rewards are also the least expensive.
