Developer Majestic Realty's plan to build a football stadium in the City of Industry has always been the ugly step-stadium plan that no one really took very seriously. And now that we know that no NFL team is coming to LA any time soon, you'd think it was time to let the idea die quietly. But you'd be wrong! Industry still supports the plan, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, and an NFL official told the paper that Majestic is still trying to court a team. Could Majestic swoop in with a viable plan to get a stadium built? Uh, probably not. Like so many other major projects, the whole thing is hobbled (additionally) by the 2011 state-mandated killing of local redevelopment agencies.
Back in 2008, Majestic president Ed Roski said "he hoped to buy all or part of a team and then move it to an $800 million stadium that would be cut into the hills on the east side of the city." He also said then that the stadium would be built entirely with private money--no tax dollars required. That turned out not to be the case, and it's keeping the Industry stadium from moving forward. The developer and state of California are locked in a battle of angry letter-writing over $180 million in property tax money that Majestic expected to receive from the city's redevelopment agency. Now that the redevelopment agencies are gone, so is the money. That money was to be used for infrastructure around the stadium site (grading, streets, and more), a site which Majestic had leased for no money up front.
Your move, Carson?
· Roski, state squaring off over legality of NFL development [SGV Tribune, image via]
· What's Behind All This Industry Stadium Momentum Talk? [Curbed LA]
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