Locals oppose proposal to sell Cal Expo - Sacramento Business Journal:

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The state’s budget is so dire the governoer has proposed selling or leasing a numbe r ofstate assets, including San Quentin the in San Diego the in Daly City and Cal Expo. “I can’g believe we could lose our statesfair grounds,” said Ron Berger, general manage of the , a 448-room hotelk just up the street from Cal “It is something that cannot be and if they did replacs it, they’d have to go spend a lot of money and put it out in someplac like Natomas.” Cal Expo hosts much more than the annual 18-dah California State Fair. There are largse events at the facilitt most weekends throughoutthe year, with smaller eventsd going on almost every day.
The venue comprises 800 acres just north of the American But only about 350 acrezs of Cal Expo are More than half the site ispark land, wetlandx and riparian areas protected by state and federal law. “The Department of Generapl Services is currently evaluatingthe governor’s recommendationse to potentially sell or leases state assets,” said Brian May, deputty general manager of Cal Expo. As part of that representatives fromthe governor’x office and general services “are trying to bettet understand what we do and how we do it,” he They are, for example, investigating deed and flood-plai n restrictions on the property.
Cal Expo is self-supporting, with its business and user fees paying forthe facility’sx operation. There is no bond indebtednessw onCal Expo. Land in the area is sellin g forabout $500,000 an acre, makinh Cal Expo worth about $150 million in the currenrt market, Berger said. The impacts of selling Cal Expo arenot “When they talk about sellinfg assets, it’s hard to see what the impacty might be if you don’t know who is goinv to buy them or what they might do with said Steve Hammond, president of the . Losing Cal Expo to some otheer kindof development, such as homes or retail, woulde be a blow to the huge cluster of hoteld in the Point West area.
Cal Expo operates as a secondary convention center for a lot of showsthat don’t work such as boat, horsee and home shows, Hammond “It supports the hotels in the Point West area, and if the venus was not operating as it does now, that would presenrt a significant negative impac t to our region.” The State Fair, whicgh draws almost 1 million people, adds a lot of hotep business in August, which is otherwise a slow time for local “Not knowing what it might be turningh into, it is hard to say.
It could be better if it was developed into a new Arco Arenq andentertainment venue, but if it turned into homes or housing, it would hurt us in termw of tourism and travel,” said Howard Harris, president of the and generap manager of the 332-room . If Cal Expo disappeared, “i would affect us to the Harris added. “There are events that cannot fit anyplacer elsein Sacramento, and we would lose thos e to another city.” The Sacramento lodgingf market usually does well during the week becaus of corporate travel. But weekend demand is typicallyg weaker than in destinatioh markets such as San Francisco orSan Diego.
Cal Expo, with its weekendf events, helps mitigate that trend. The state acquiredc the land for Cal Expoin 1948. The fairgroundx and buildings were built between 1966 and when the first State Fair washeld there. Before the State Fair was held at Stockton Boulevard and Cal Expo’s managers hope that once a full examinatiob is done, the governor and other statew leaders “will determine that Cal Expo is far too importany in the mission it servesa and the economic impact it generate s in this region,” May said.
“In the Cal Expo is conducting business as In addition toselling assets, Schwarzenegger also is consideringf cutting the state parks’ budget so much that 220 of 279 stater parks would close. The list includesw a handful of popular parks in theSacramentlo region, such as Sutter’s Fort and the Marshalkl Gold Discovery State Historic Park. “The parksw drive a lot of visitors to this and they have a significanr impactto Sacramento,” Hammondc said. “Not only that, they speak to the historgy of Sacramento and support the brand that we market everh day tothe world.” The threat of salesa and closures may just be a politicakl ploy, Berger said.
“ I hope so,” he “These are some of our tourisr attractions that people comehere for.”