New Sports Arenas Make a Big Splash in CA

Stadiums are adopting a mixed-use model. At Allen Matkins annual View From the Top conference earlier this week, Jason Gannon, managing director of the Los Angeles Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park, and David Kelly, general counsel and VP of the Golden State Warriors, said that they were integrating retail and food and beverage as a way to activate the projects and office space to provide additional cash flow. Gannon and Kelly spoke on the Landmark Development Projects panel, moderated by Allen Matkins partner Tony Natsis and with speakers R. Todd Doney, vice chairman at CBRE; Aaron Fenton, senior project manager at Boston Properties; and Kevin L. Ratner, president of Forest City West.

The Golden State Warriors purchased land for Chase Center, an 11-acre stadium development project in Mission Bay South, and the site was already entitled for two office towers. They decided to build one of the office towers along with the arena, and found Uber to prelease the space and partner on the development project. “Uber took the space and became a joint venture partner on the project,” said Kelly. “That took some risk off the table for us and allowed us to focus on what we do best, which is building the arena.” Uber ended up being the perfect “synergistic” partner. One huge reason is because Uber doesn’t require parking—per the nature of its business—leaving the parking at the project free for the arena.

In addition to the office, Chase Center is including retail and food and beverage, which will service both the office tenants and the stadium. Kelly added that the team is strategically including retail options at every entrance point. “You need retail to activate the arena,” he said. “The stadium is going to bring people from all over the country. The office tower is also synergistic with the retail, and we plan to use the retail to activate the office as well.”

Hollywood Park is taking the same approach on a larger scale. It is a 300-acre project in Inglewood. The first phase of the project is a 60,000-seat arena that will serve both the Rams and the Chargers as well as performing arts events, concerts and outdoor summer events. However, it is massive with 500,000 square feet of retail space, a hotel, office complex and apartment building, all of which will be constructed over decades. “Inglewood has seen an amazing transformation, and it has beautiful homes,” Doney, who is working on the project, said, adding that it is ideally located. It is only three miles from LAX, has access to transit and is centrally located. “We have already been given a super bowl and we have the Olympics coming, so there is going to be a lot of big time sports events,” he added.

Gannon relayed that the additional amenities will provide “meaningful aggregation” at the project. He was also particularly enthusiastic about the office portion. This is an opportunity for office users and create their own office environment is a unique opportunity,” he said.

The Hollywood Park stadium will be complete for the 2020 NFL season, while the remaining portions of the project will be completed over several phases.