Kings and City Seek Community Input on Design of New ESC

-Public Will Have Range of Opportunities to Provide Feedback-

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Sacramento Kings and City of Sacramento today released plans to gather suggestions on the design of the new entertainment and sports center (ESC) at the Downtown Plaza mall.

"Since the inception of this project, our primary goal has been to create an iconic space that reflected and celebrated the best of Sacramento and the region at large," said Kings President and Chief Operating Officer Chris Granger. "We're excited to continue this dialogue with the community and look forward to hearing their input and ideas through this series of open houses and workshops."

Members of the public will have numerous opportunities to participate:

Online survey. The public is encouraged to complete a 5-10 minute online survey designed to collect community input on key arena design concepts. The survey will be available online at here from September 27 to October 6.

Small group workshops. We will randomly select a subset of survey respondents to participate in small group workshops with the Kings, the City and the project architect, AECOM. These focus groups will gather in-depth feedback on specific design considerations including input received from the survey. Those interested in attending are encouraged to sign up by taking the online survey here.

Open House. The City will host an open house on Saturday, October 5th from 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. at the Tsakopoulos Library East Room (828 I Street) to educate the public on key design issues and gather additional community feedback. Go to www.cityofsacramento.org for more details.

City Hall Foyer. The Kings, AECOM and City will have informational materials and comment cards available in the foyer of City Hall (915 I Street) from October 7 - 14. The comment cards will be included with the information received from the online survey. More details on www.cityofsacramento.org.

These events represent the latest in an ongoing series of activities intended to engage members of the Sacramento community in the development of the new downtown entertainment and sports complex.

Earlier this year, 400 people completed a survey on how residents envision the future of Downtown Plaza with a new entertainment and sports center via the City's Envision Sacramento website. Additionally, nearly 6,000 respondents completed an in-depth market demand study to gauge preferences on key amenities inside the arena.

"We have a real opportunity to develop a new City-owned facility that is uniquely Sacramento and a centerpiece for the entire region," said City Manager John Shirey. "To be successful, we need to capitalize on the community's continued enthusiasm by hearing suggestions on the look and feel, amenities and features of the new downtown arena."

The ESC project team includes ICON Venue Group, AECOM, construction firm Turner Construction, the Kings and the City. The project team is currently in the conceptual phase of the arena design. They will reveal updated visuals of the arena later this fall. Construction on the new ESC is expected to begin in fall 2014, with the facility targeted to open in the fall of 2016.

For more information, please visit www.kings.com and www.cityofsacramento.org.