“There’s always been talk about
the Central Shops and what it
could be, and there’s great visions.
There was vision under Thomas
and there’s vision under DRV, and
it’s very complementary to the
soccer stadium in terms of like an
entertainment place for people, a
very lively place for people to go.”
~ Fran Halbakken, assistant city manager, Sacramento
City planners and developers still have a lot of work to do,
with the soccer stadium likely an area of focus in the months
ahead. Gumpert says the announcement of an MLS fran-
chise will trigger a flurry of work, including finalization of
construction documents and hiring subcontractors. “We can
have a shovel in the ground within three months after that,”
says Gumpert, who envisions a 20-21 month construction cy-
cle with the stadium completed in 2021.
Though full buildout of The Railyards could take 20 years,
Steinberg says in 5-10 years “it will be visually different in a
way that will make people very happy.”
Much work already has been done, with substantial en-
vironmental remediation under Stan Thomas’ ownership
of The Railyards to rehabilitate it from its former status as a
superfund site. The city and DRV also have invested in infra-
structure, though some work remains on that front. “Major
League Soccer will be a huge jumpstart for The Railyards,”
Harris says. “Of course, a precursor to that is getting sewers
in place so that we can build things and have them be func-
tional.”
Economic questions also remain. Nationally, ana-
lysts talk of a recession in the next 12-18 months. Locally,
there might be some question of how much entertainment-
related development is too much downtown, or if there will
be enough spendable dollars to go around. Halbakken isn’t
worried, though, saying Sacramento’s long been under-
served. “Between sporting, art, cultural assets, we’re just
underserved all across the board,” Halbakken says. “I don’t
know that we’re going to hit a level of investment where (res-
idents) say, ‘That’s enough.’”
Then there’s the ongoing debate about how much eco-
nomic impact stadiums really have. While Republic FC is
helping limit the city’s financial risk by covering most of the
stadium’s cost, how much the stadium ultimately will help
spur development at The Railyards remains to be seen.
Gerardo Prado, a principal for stadium designer HNTB,
expressed pessimism about what the stadium can do for de-
velopment at The Railyards. “We do a lot of sports stadiums,
and you see a lot of arenas, kind of this focus over the years
to revitalize downtown areas with sports facilities as anchors
for development,” Prado says. “There’s been places ... like
(the) New York Red Bulls’ stadium … that was kind of the vi-
sion for them to develop adjacent land and it’s taken forever.”
Gumpert is hopeful, though. “You see so many success-
ful MLS franchises, especially new ones that have developed
amazing stadiums, developed them in downtown cores, had
amazing support, driven a lot of business around it for the
city, and raised the profile of their city,” Gumpert says. “And
still, even with that, I would stack up Sacramento as strong
as any of ’em, given the opportunity we have, the passion for
soccer that’s already been shown.” n
Graham Womack is a freelance writer based in Sacramento.
His work has appeared in a variety of publications, including
the San Francisco Chronicle, The Sacramento Bee and Sacra-
mento News & Review. Follow him on Twitter @grahamdude.
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