http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/28831.html
Arena debate: 2 cities enjoy vibrant scene
In Indianapolis and Memphis, palaces for sport energize downtown fortunes.
By Terri Hardy and Mary Lynne Vellinga - Bee Staff Writers
Last Updated 7:36 am PDT Monday, September 25, 2006
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1
A big man in a turquoise suit stands outside B.B. King's Blues Club and nods to a passer-by on world-famous Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn.
"How y'all doin?"
Three shirtless boys do handsprings down the street's center -- closed to cars during the evenings. Diners jam sidewalk cafes and shoppers eye the voodoo dolls on sale at Tater Red's. The street scene of this historic district thumps with blues music; the smoky smell of barbecue hangs in the air.
Visitors, some sporting "Nashville Predator" jerseys, stream around the corner into the new FedExForum arena for an exhibition hockey game.
It's the kind of colorful, jostling weeknight scene that Sacramento leaders hope will one day blossom in downtown's long-dormant railyard, sparked by a new arena for the Kings.
The FedExForum, home of the Memphis Grizzlies, represents the latest in NBA design -- an amenity-packed sports palace that adds to a city's downtown scene and reflects its culture and history. Built in 2004, it is the kind of facility Sacramento leaders and the Maloof family, owners of the Kings, have said they envision here -- but with a Sacramento twist, maybe something to do with a railroad theme or California wines.
The Maloofs also have toured Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Opened in 1999, Conseco created the template for Memphis and other new arenas being built around the country today.
Bee visits to both Indianapolis and Memphis show there is much to emulate about Conseco and the FedExForum. In pure economic terms, civic leaders in those cities say the arenas have been useful in providing economic boosts to urban redevelopment. But the buildings also are being envisioned as aesthetic blueprints for Sacramento. They are designed to not only wow patrons inside, but also to artfully blend into their environments and complement surrounding neighborhoods.
"You can see a lot of one in the other, but they've all got their own personalities," said Tom Rutledge, vice president of operations for Pacers Sports and Entertainment, which operates Conseco Fieldhouse and owns the NBA Pacers and WNBA Fever.
These new arenas share the same basic business mission as Arco Arena -- hosting basketball games, concerts and shows -- but that's about where the resemblance ends.
While Arco sits like a marooned spaceship amid acres of surface parking in North Natomas, Conseco snuggles up to the sidewalk in downtown Indianapolis, its red brick and limestone blending into the 19th century industrial buildings nearby, many of which are now being converted into loft-style condominiums.
The forest-green steel and ads painted onto the red brick walls are meant to evoke on old-time gymnasium in Indiana, the nation's hoops heartland.
Conseco's soaring, steel-trussed lobby is open to the public during the day. People can buy jerseys in the team store, watch the Pacers practice in a glass-enclosed court for free or grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
New bars and restaurants have sprung up nearby. Late into the evening, knots of diners and revelers now traipse along the downtown sidewalks between watering holes and steak joints packed into the city's tight, walkable central district.
In Memphis, the arena also is squeezed into downtown, with the goal of enlivening the street scene around it. Andy Dolich, president of business operations for the Grizzlies, loves the team's new digs.
The team offices are in a building next to the arena, with a Smithsonian-created Rock N Soul Museum on the ground level, and a Gibson guitar factory and showroom across the street -- not to mention gritty and charming Beale Street, one of the state's top tourist attractions, around the corner.
"If you were going to dream up the perfect circumstance, we have it here," Dolich said.
FedExForum is "neotraditional" -- a striking blend of old and new. The façade is sleek and mostly glass, with exposed steel beams and soaring windows, letting in light and allowing sweeping views of the historic Beale area. Exterior touches of brick, as well as brick-colored metal panels on the exterior, echo the surrounding historical structures.
Translucent panels jutting out from the top -- the pricey "halo" -- lessen the heaviness of the structure and create the illusion of less height, said local architect James Murray, whose firm, Self Tucker, designed the building's exterior finishes.
Both the FedExForum and Conseco were built with hundreds of millions of dollars in public money -- a public subsidy similar to what is proposed for the Sacramento Kings. Many residents of those cities say the spending on sports was worthwhile.
Marek Rombel, a brand manager with drug giant Eli Lilly and Co., lives in the wealthy Indianapolis suburb of Carmel. Rombel said Conseco and a variety of other new downtown amenities have completely transformed central Indianapolis in the past 15 years.
"The (public) investment in the sports facilities has been incredibly important," he said. "It's drawn people from Carmel and other parts of Indianapolis, and it's made them stay."
Sports are huge in Indianapolis, and so is the public spending on them. A few blocks south of Conseco Field, nine giant cranes last week crawled over the construction site of a new $675 million stadium being built for the NFL Colts.
The public is shouldering most of the burden for the new facility through a variety of new taxes, including an increased levy on food and drink in restaurants throughout an eight-county area.
Unlike voters in Sacramento, the Indianapolis public was never asked to weigh in at the ballot box on whether they wanted to spend their tax dollars this way. Neither were voters in Memphis. Their elected officials on the state and local level decided for them.
"It didn't go to a referendum; that's not our process here," said Julia Watson, vice president of marketing for Indianapolis Downtown Inc., a public-private partnership charged with developing, managing and marketing downtown Indy.
"I don't know how anything ever gets passed on a referendum," Watson added.
She said Conseco is one piece of an economic development puzzle that Indianapolis leaders started to put in place 20 years ago, when they decided to make their city the "amateur sports capital" of the nation. They have since landed the NCAA headquarters and hosted numerous sporting events. A new state park along the White River is studded with new cultural venues, and city visitors stroll along an old 19th century canal renovated into a charming district where new housing and fountains line the water's edge.
The developer of Sacramento's downtown railyard, Thomas Enterprises, has included a similar residential district built along a manmade canal in its plan.
On Indianapolis' South Street, across from the massive Lucas Oil Stadium construction site, resident Chris Loggins said he has no problem with his tax dollars paying for Conseco Fieldhouse and a replacement to the RCA Dome, which opened in 1984 and was initially called the Hoosier Dome. Getting rid of the dome will make way for the city to expand its convention center, another taxpayer-funded project.
"Everybody's a Colts fan, and everybody's a Pacers fan," Loggins said.
There are voices of dissent, however. Away from the tall buildings and restaurant chains of downtown, in the city's Massachusetts Avenue arts district, Ron Spencer, executive director of the Theatre on the Square, bemoaned the city's obsession with professional sports.
"For us, any kind of major sports activity draws attention away from the arts," Spencer said. "We are absolutely brutalized by the amount of attention given to sports in this city."
Like Indianapolis, downtown Memphis was undergoing its own downtown renaissance before the FedExForum was constructed. But business leaders said the arena has helped speed building and boosted confidence.
More than $2.5 billion in new or approved projects have landed in the city's central core, said Jeff Sanford, who heads the Center City Commission, a public agency that oversees redevelopment.
Echoing Sacramento's own proposed twin condominium and hotel towers, Memphis developers have proposed twin 32-story luxury condos.
Those plans so impressed John Moore, president of the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce, that he and his wife "are seriously considering a move" from their suburban Germantown home.
Moore said he believes the presence of the Grizzlies also was a factor in convincing International Paper to move its headquarters to the city.
"This was the first Fortune 500 company to move to the South in 20 years," Moore said. "These people are asking their top executives to move here and they have to offer a certain quality of life. If there's no professional sports, it's less attractive."
Lured by the FedExForum, Tennesse's first Westin Hotel is being built across the street, along with a new parking garage and retail complex.
The city also is looking at redeveloping the abandoned lots and industrial businesses that fill 150 acres adjacent to the FedExForum.
"No question, these projects wouldn't have happened without the FedExForum," Sanford said.
About the writer: The Bee's Terri Hardy can be reached at (916) 321-1073 or thardy@sacbee.com.
Arena debate: 2 cities enjoy vibrant scene
In Indianapolis and Memphis, palaces for sport energize downtown fortunes.
By Terri Hardy and Mary Lynne Vellinga - Bee Staff Writers
Last Updated 7:36 am PDT Monday, September 25, 2006
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1
A big man in a turquoise suit stands outside B.B. King's Blues Club and nods to a passer-by on world-famous Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn.
"How y'all doin?"
Three shirtless boys do handsprings down the street's center -- closed to cars during the evenings. Diners jam sidewalk cafes and shoppers eye the voodoo dolls on sale at Tater Red's. The street scene of this historic district thumps with blues music; the smoky smell of barbecue hangs in the air.
Visitors, some sporting "Nashville Predator" jerseys, stream around the corner into the new FedExForum arena for an exhibition hockey game.
It's the kind of colorful, jostling weeknight scene that Sacramento leaders hope will one day blossom in downtown's long-dormant railyard, sparked by a new arena for the Kings.
The FedExForum, home of the Memphis Grizzlies, represents the latest in NBA design -- an amenity-packed sports palace that adds to a city's downtown scene and reflects its culture and history. Built in 2004, it is the kind of facility Sacramento leaders and the Maloof family, owners of the Kings, have said they envision here -- but with a Sacramento twist, maybe something to do with a railroad theme or California wines.
The Maloofs also have toured Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Opened in 1999, Conseco created the template for Memphis and other new arenas being built around the country today.
Bee visits to both Indianapolis and Memphis show there is much to emulate about Conseco and the FedExForum. In pure economic terms, civic leaders in those cities say the arenas have been useful in providing economic boosts to urban redevelopment. But the buildings also are being envisioned as aesthetic blueprints for Sacramento. They are designed to not only wow patrons inside, but also to artfully blend into their environments and complement surrounding neighborhoods.
"You can see a lot of one in the other, but they've all got their own personalities," said Tom Rutledge, vice president of operations for Pacers Sports and Entertainment, which operates Conseco Fieldhouse and owns the NBA Pacers and WNBA Fever.
These new arenas share the same basic business mission as Arco Arena -- hosting basketball games, concerts and shows -- but that's about where the resemblance ends.
While Arco sits like a marooned spaceship amid acres of surface parking in North Natomas, Conseco snuggles up to the sidewalk in downtown Indianapolis, its red brick and limestone blending into the 19th century industrial buildings nearby, many of which are now being converted into loft-style condominiums.
The forest-green steel and ads painted onto the red brick walls are meant to evoke on old-time gymnasium in Indiana, the nation's hoops heartland.
Conseco's soaring, steel-trussed lobby is open to the public during the day. People can buy jerseys in the team store, watch the Pacers practice in a glass-enclosed court for free or grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
New bars and restaurants have sprung up nearby. Late into the evening, knots of diners and revelers now traipse along the downtown sidewalks between watering holes and steak joints packed into the city's tight, walkable central district.
In Memphis, the arena also is squeezed into downtown, with the goal of enlivening the street scene around it. Andy Dolich, president of business operations for the Grizzlies, loves the team's new digs.
The team offices are in a building next to the arena, with a Smithsonian-created Rock N Soul Museum on the ground level, and a Gibson guitar factory and showroom across the street -- not to mention gritty and charming Beale Street, one of the state's top tourist attractions, around the corner.
"If you were going to dream up the perfect circumstance, we have it here," Dolich said.
FedExForum is "neotraditional" -- a striking blend of old and new. The façade is sleek and mostly glass, with exposed steel beams and soaring windows, letting in light and allowing sweeping views of the historic Beale area. Exterior touches of brick, as well as brick-colored metal panels on the exterior, echo the surrounding historical structures.
Translucent panels jutting out from the top -- the pricey "halo" -- lessen the heaviness of the structure and create the illusion of less height, said local architect James Murray, whose firm, Self Tucker, designed the building's exterior finishes.
Both the FedExForum and Conseco were built with hundreds of millions of dollars in public money -- a public subsidy similar to what is proposed for the Sacramento Kings. Many residents of those cities say the spending on sports was worthwhile.
Marek Rombel, a brand manager with drug giant Eli Lilly and Co., lives in the wealthy Indianapolis suburb of Carmel. Rombel said Conseco and a variety of other new downtown amenities have completely transformed central Indianapolis in the past 15 years.
"The (public) investment in the sports facilities has been incredibly important," he said. "It's drawn people from Carmel and other parts of Indianapolis, and it's made them stay."
Sports are huge in Indianapolis, and so is the public spending on them. A few blocks south of Conseco Field, nine giant cranes last week crawled over the construction site of a new $675 million stadium being built for the NFL Colts.
The public is shouldering most of the burden for the new facility through a variety of new taxes, including an increased levy on food and drink in restaurants throughout an eight-county area.
Unlike voters in Sacramento, the Indianapolis public was never asked to weigh in at the ballot box on whether they wanted to spend their tax dollars this way. Neither were voters in Memphis. Their elected officials on the state and local level decided for them.
"It didn't go to a referendum; that's not our process here," said Julia Watson, vice president of marketing for Indianapolis Downtown Inc., a public-private partnership charged with developing, managing and marketing downtown Indy.
"I don't know how anything ever gets passed on a referendum," Watson added.
She said Conseco is one piece of an economic development puzzle that Indianapolis leaders started to put in place 20 years ago, when they decided to make their city the "amateur sports capital" of the nation. They have since landed the NCAA headquarters and hosted numerous sporting events. A new state park along the White River is studded with new cultural venues, and city visitors stroll along an old 19th century canal renovated into a charming district where new housing and fountains line the water's edge.
The developer of Sacramento's downtown railyard, Thomas Enterprises, has included a similar residential district built along a manmade canal in its plan.
On Indianapolis' South Street, across from the massive Lucas Oil Stadium construction site, resident Chris Loggins said he has no problem with his tax dollars paying for Conseco Fieldhouse and a replacement to the RCA Dome, which opened in 1984 and was initially called the Hoosier Dome. Getting rid of the dome will make way for the city to expand its convention center, another taxpayer-funded project.
"Everybody's a Colts fan, and everybody's a Pacers fan," Loggins said.
There are voices of dissent, however. Away from the tall buildings and restaurant chains of downtown, in the city's Massachusetts Avenue arts district, Ron Spencer, executive director of the Theatre on the Square, bemoaned the city's obsession with professional sports.
"For us, any kind of major sports activity draws attention away from the arts," Spencer said. "We are absolutely brutalized by the amount of attention given to sports in this city."
Like Indianapolis, downtown Memphis was undergoing its own downtown renaissance before the FedExForum was constructed. But business leaders said the arena has helped speed building and boosted confidence.
More than $2.5 billion in new or approved projects have landed in the city's central core, said Jeff Sanford, who heads the Center City Commission, a public agency that oversees redevelopment.
Echoing Sacramento's own proposed twin condominium and hotel towers, Memphis developers have proposed twin 32-story luxury condos.
Those plans so impressed John Moore, president of the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce, that he and his wife "are seriously considering a move" from their suburban Germantown home.
Moore said he believes the presence of the Grizzlies also was a factor in convincing International Paper to move its headquarters to the city.
"This was the first Fortune 500 company to move to the South in 20 years," Moore said. "These people are asking their top executives to move here and they have to offer a certain quality of life. If there's no professional sports, it's less attractive."
Lured by the FedExForum, Tennesse's first Westin Hotel is being built across the street, along with a new parking garage and retail complex.
The city also is looking at redeveloping the abandoned lots and industrial businesses that fill 150 acres adjacent to the FedExForum.
"No question, these projects wouldn't have happened without the FedExForum," Sanford said.
About the writer: The Bee's Terri Hardy can be reached at (916) 321-1073 or thardy@sacbee.com.
