Featured image credit: Midway Rising/Safdie Rabines Architects
Real estate company The Kroenke Group has been unveiled as a partner in the Midway Rising team, which is planning a major redevelopment of a 48.5-acre sports arena site in San Diego.
The company’s investment encompasses all aspects of the project, which is anchored by a 16,000-seat arena and also includes 4,000 new housing units, new parks, restaurants, shops, and other community amenities.
Day-to-day redevelopment operations will continue to be managed by the existing Midway Rising team partners: Zephyr Partners, Legends and Chelsea Investment Corporation.
Terms of The Kroenke Group’s involvement were not officially disclosed but the San Diego Union-Tribune has reported that the company will foot “nearly all of the bill”. The newspaper, citing documents it has reviewed, said that The Kroenke Group now has a 90% ownership interest in the project, with the stake and financial commitment to increase to 95% once construction begins.
The Kroenke Group is a division of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which owns a host of professional sports teams including the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, NBA’s Denver Nuggets, NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids and English Premier League football club Arsenal.
The company, led by billionaire Stan Kroenke, has extensive experience in sports venue development and management across SoFi Stadium, Ball Arena, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park and Emirates Stadium.
San Diego City Council selected the Midway Rising team as the winning bid to transform the sports arena site back in September. It came after the consortium featuring Legends was recommended to lead the multibillion-dollar project by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and other influential officials.
The 16,000-seat arena will replace the site’s current venue, which opened in 1966. In December, San Diego City Council approved an exclusive negotiating agreement between the City and Midway Rising, which lays out dates and requirements for project negotiations.
Gloria told the Union-Tribune: “That someone of this calibre is willing to make this investment in partnership with the team that we selected … it makes it more likely (that the project) will come to pass, to not only provide the world-class venue that we want but also the housing that we desperately need.
“You have someone who knows how to do big projects who could take his investment and really go anywhere in the world. And he’s choosing San Diego.”
The Kroenke Group’s Jason Gannon added: “The Midway Rising project will continue growing our investment in the Southern California region and we appreciate the city’s confidence in our joint vision with the existing project partners.
“This project is an incredibly exciting opportunity for The Kroenke Group to make a profound impact in San Diego, and it lays a foundation for our future investment in the community.”
Midway Rising is currently completing physical site due diligence, a process that involves analysis and assessment of existing and underlying site infrastructure as well as geotechnical constraints.
The resulting project description based on the team’s initial proposal and vision for the sports arena will undergo environmental studies and reviews in 2024, and late next year the project team hopes to bring a long-term lease and development plan to the council for approval. The cost of the project is yet to be revealed.
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