With Arizona State’s own James Harden tearing up the FIBA America’s World Cup for Team USA, it seems like a good time to talk about another connection to USA Basketball. Tempe’s USA Place, the $450 million facility that will further transform the city, is getting closer to fruition every day.

    USA Basketball debuted plans to move their headquarters, currently based in Colorado Springs, to the corner of University and Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe last year. The headquarters will be part of a multi-faceted overhaul that will include a 14-story Omni hotel, apartments, office space, and restaurants.

    While the project has experienced some bumps in the road due to a re-evaluation of financing, a key cog fell into place last week when USA Basketball agreed to a 99-year lease agreement with Arizona State University.

    The developers now have building authority on the land, previously owned by ASU, and will look to complete the project by late 2016. In exchange for providing the University and Mill location which buds up to ASU’s campus, the university will also receive a 1000-square-foot boardroom in a conference center, adjacent to the Omni Hotel.

    Omni has hotels nationwide and in both Canada and Mexico. Other Omni hotels have been connected to large-scale sports projects, including the San Diego Padres’ Petco Park and the College Football Hall of Fame in Nashville. There are already two Omni hotels in Arizona. One is located in Scottsdale and the other is located…. in that city that must not be named. Let’s just say it’s a couple hours south.  

    Recent reports indicate USA Basketball will make the move to Tempe’s USA Place in 2017, though original plans had Team USA getting ready for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in the Valley of the Sun. In addition to expanded office space, USA Basketball will debut a massive 4,500 seat event center that will have two floors of parking underneath.

    According to the Arizona Republic, “USA Place is projected to draw 350,000 visitors annually and to generate $115 million in new tax revenue over 20 years for the state, county, Tempe and ASU.”

For more, see:

USA Men’s Basketball Headquarters: Cutting-Edge “USA PLACE” in Tempe Will Be Adjacent to ASU