The brand new 68,500-seat 49er stadium in Santa Clara is about get a little dirty - with real dirt. The first stadium-connected groundbreaking is coming up fast.
On Thursday, the city of Santa Clara will break ground on a parking garage across from the planned stadium site. The structure was in the works ahead of the stadium plan, but will be used by fans and is part of the stadium project.
If all goes as planned the stadium will open next to the Great America theme park in time for the 2015 football season.
The next pitch for the stadium is next Tuesday, when Hall of Fame football player Joe Montana is expected to present a proposal to lease and develop a luxury hotel on two city-owned parcels of land north of Tasman Avenue, across from the stadium.
Also this week, the Santa Clara Stadium Authority approved what is considered milestone agreements that bring the construction several steps closer to reality.
The authority, which includes City Council members, the city manager and the city attorney, approved a procurement process that will be used to hire subcontractors to perform roughly $500 million in construction work for the new stadium. The bidding process is expected to begin this fall.
The stadium authority also approved the selection of Legends Premium Sales as the marketing agency to manage and sell stadium builders licenses, or seat licenses.
Legends has sold $138 million in luxury boxes so far, and will begin selling seat licenses in January 2012. Proceeds will go toward stadium construction.
The authority also gave the green light to an agreement with Centerplate, a concessionaire company, to provide input into the design of food, beverage, and merchandise areas.
An agreement was also approved to allow the 49ers Stadium Company, or Stadco, to move forward with plans to fine-tune the design for the $950 million stadium.
Additionally, the authority approved a $400,000 contract with Keyser Marston Associates to assist with the disposition and development agreement and structuring of the overall stadium financing plan.
"It's very, very exciting," Deputy City Manager Carol McCarthy said. "We're moving forward in lots of different areas."
Bay City News
