Sacramento Kings Asking City To Consider Eminent Domain Against Macy's Owner
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The future of the Sacramento Kings arena in downtown Sacramento has hit a snag that may require the city to make an eminent domain claim against a major retailer.
The owner of a Macy's building in the Downtown Plaza where the arena is proposed to be built isn't willing to sell the space.
In fact, the owner isn't letting an appraiser on the property.
Now the team's is asking Sacramento city leaders to flex their negotiating muscles, including threatening to take the property through eminent domain.
"We'll go to court in order to get an order and to allow us to go in the property to do the appraisal."
The Kings owners have laid out a vision for their arena on the Downtown Plaza. Renderings show giant glass panels that would allow those to see out, opening the site that has been criticized for seeming like a walled fortress.
The New York real estate firm called C3 took over the building when it fell into foreclosure.
"This entity called C3, which is pretty anonymous, and pretty much an absentee owner. Just doesn't want to cooperate."
Arena construction is supposed to begin in a year. The NBA has set a deadline for the team to build an arena by 2017, warning that the team could move if that deadline isn't met.
The arena would be in Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen's district. He supports the city taking a lead role in acquiring the Macy's building.
"Eminent domain is the constitutional right of the public. We pay for what we take, and I hope it doesn't go there. But certainly that's a power that the city has, that any public agency has."
