Sleep Train Arena, the former home of the Sacramento Kings, might be used as a makeshift coronavirus hospital, Army Corp says.
There is plenty of uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States and around the world, and Northern California has been one of the areas that have been adversely affected. The news came out on Friday that Sleep Train Arena, former home of the Sacramento Kings, might become a makeshift coronavirus hospital.
According to Tara Copp and Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee, The Army Corps of Engineers chief engineer said that they are planning to create a 360-bed field hospital to treat both coronavirus and regular trauma care patients in the arena formerly known as ARCO.
While the information comes from one of the more credible sources possible, Army Corps officials did not say whether or not there was a formal deal in place, and the Kings, who still own the arena, did not comment.
Sleep Train Arena to become 360-bed coronavirus hospital, Army Corps says https://t.co/L5D9T0kq3K
— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) March 27, 2020
Sleep Train was the home to the Kings for 28 years before they moved to Golden 1 Center. Since their departure, the future of the building and the land around it had been up in the air. There have been talks about relocating the Sacramento Zoo to the site, as well as initial plans to build commercial and residential units on the property. Any and all of those plans will seemingly be put on hold for now as the current epidemic sweeps the nation.
The Bee article goes on to say that the Sleep Train plan replaces the previous one to use local hotel rooms as makeshift medical areas. Furthermore, the Army Corps is currently in talks with CenturyLink Field, the home of the Seahawks, as a potential hospital space.
It is nice to see that the old arena site might finally be put to good use.