Dreams of a Hip, High-Tech Sacramento Hinge on Kings’ New Home Court

From The New York TimesSACRAMENTO — When it opens for the Sacramento Kings’ first home basketball game, the Golden 1 Center — which will have the capacity to hold 17,500 fans and is designed with online graphic and social media interfaces — will be more than the newest and most technologically advanced arena in the National Basketball Association.The arena, which will cost about $500 million, will have aircraft hangar doors on its north side that open onto a public plaza anchored by a luxury hotel. There are also plans for more than one million square feet of retail, recreation, office and housing space.

The four-block development — total price about $1 billion — was previously occupied by an underperforming indoor shopping mall built in 1971. Mayor Kevin Johnson of Sacramento sees it as the catalyst for efforts to convert California’s capital into a hot spot for jobs, housing and entertainment.“It’s an amazing moment for Sacramento,” Mr. Johnson said during a ceremony in mid-June to announce that Golden 1 Credit Union, the Sacramento-based banking cooperative, had purchased the rights to the arena’s name for $120 million over 20 years. “We’re in a new era called Sacramento 3.0, where we do things differently and where we control our own destiny. It’s bigger than basketball. We’re revitalizing our downtown. It’s about civic pride.”