Sacramento Kings on track to own Sleep Train Arena by next month
When the Sacramento Kings hand over its final loan payment to the city, the organization will become the owner of the Sleep Train Arena.
The Sacramento City Council accepted the team’s plan to pay off the final $30 million of the $74 million loan.
In a statement, the Sacramento Kings said the loan repayment, "represents an important next step in the entitlement process and future development of the Natomas site.”
In 1997, the city signed off on the loan to help the Kings pay for expenses.
“It was not an easy decision,” said Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who was a council member at the time of the vote. “Very controversial. A lot of people opposed.”
Steinberg voted "yes" in the 5-3 vote two decades ago.
“That was the right decision then,” Steinberg said. “And looking back, it was absolutely the right decision for Sacramento.”
The loan repayment paves the way for redevelopment of the old arena.
The Sleep Train Arena has been vacant for several years since the team moved to the Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento.
The Kings are expected to pay off the loan at the beginning of January, at that point, the organization will be able to start redeveloping the Sleep Train Arena in Natomas.
“That is a current, very, very important topic,” Steinberg said, when asked what will be done with the Natomas site.
Steinberg wouldn’t speculate on what development could be in the works or when it could happen.