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The San Francisco 49ers are in the midst of building their new stadium in Santa Clara, and it is currently on pace to open in time for the 2014 season. The stadium will feature state of the art technology as Jed York is attempting to create a technological masterpiece.
As the stadium goes up, it is worth noting that it will be part of a broader effort to build up the area. The new stadium will be built across the street from the 49ers practice facility, which happens to sit near the Santa Clara Convention Center and "California's Great America" theme park.
As we often see with new stadiums, the area around the stadium is expected to include a variety of new businesses, looking to take advantage of large crowds. At the same time, the region will look to create incentives for people to come down beyond just the stadium.
Santa Clara recently approved exclusive negotiations with a developer to build up approximately 230 acres of property near the stadium. The city is looking to build an area that would be upwards of five times the size of San Jose's Santana Row. The development process is still in it's early stages, but the area could include a new hotel backed by 49ers all-time great, Joe Montana.
This is only partially connected to the 49ers, but we'll continue to keep track of this. If you live down there, or are going to be attending games down there, it would help provide an all-encompassing entertainment experience. At this point, a lot of out of town people coming for games would likely either stay near San Francisco International Airport, or up in San Francisco. A built-up area might get more people staying around the stadium, and thus spending a few more bucks around there.
Here is a small map of the proposed area, courtesy of Mike Rosenberg and the San Jose Mercury News.
