USA Basketball cancels move to Glendale

USA Basketball, the Olympic training organization, has canceled plans to build its headquarters in Glendale, at least as originally planned.

The group says the developer missed too many deadlines. USA Basketball had planned to move from its 31-year home in Colorado Springs, Colo., to a site across from University of Phoenix Stadium, east of Loop 101 off Maryland Avenue.

But two years since the announcement in 2008, when dignitaries such as then-Gov. Janet Napolitano and USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo lauded Glendale's rise as a sports destination, the developer, HB Equities, still hasn't broken ground.

"The project has been on hold pending the necessary financing and permitting," USA Basketball Executive Director Jim Tooley recently wrote to Glendale City Manager Ed Beasley. "As of this date, it does not appear that the necessary financing will come through, and the project, by all accounts, has concluded."

HB Equities, previously known as Rightpath Limited Development Group, was supposed to complete a $53.8 million training campus for USA Basketball by 2010 with amenities such as a training center, offices, three-star hotel, Midwestern University sports medicine clinic and fitness center.

The complex was to be an anchor tenant for HB Equities' Main Street project, which was to include a resort, shopping and other commercial developments. None of it has gotten off the ground.

Main Street was critical because Glendale was counting on tax revenue from shoppers and visitors to the complex to help pay off the $200 million it borrowed to build a spring-training ballpark, Camelback Ranch Glendale.

City officials have not detailed long-term plans to pay for the ballpark since the commercial project stalled.

Glendale spokeswoman Julie Frisoni said city officials were disappointed to learn USA Basketball had pulled out of the deal with developers, but she attributed it to economic forces beyond the city's control.

Analysts had estimated the USA Basketball complex would have created 324 direct jobs and $26.5 million in Glendale tax revenue over 25 years.

HB Equities tried to get financing through the La Paz County Industrial Development Authority last year, but no investors could be found. Then the developers defaulted on at least $12 million in loans and lost ownership of the airplane welcome center and repair buildings at Glendale and Yuma municipal airports. Partner Danny Hendon has declared bankruptcy at several of his Danny's Family Car Wash locations.

The future of the headquarters is unclear because officials have had little time to discuss it, said Tom O'Malley, an attorney and longtime adviser to Colangelo.

by Rebekah L. Sanders The Arizona Republic Oct. 14, 2010 12:00 AM



USA Basketball cancels move to Glendale