Historically, when people think of cities, what often springs to mind are venues that have come to define that market. How can you think about New York City and not see Madison Square Garden or Radio City Music Hall in your mind's eye? Chicago, similarly, ties much of its identity to venues like Wrigley Field and the United Center.

In recent years, though, cities have come to realize that arenas in their downtown areas can be more than just prestige landmarks. They can represent prime opportunities to revitalize the areas around them, especially in a mixed-use capacity with stores and restaurants, office space, multifamily housing, and much more.

The key is for city leaders, developers and interested tenants to get into a frame of mind where they see such areas as viable, year-round districts. Having a landmark sports and/or concert venue can create the foundation that keeps those sections of a city humming even when there's no game going on or famous artist taking the stage.

Development subsequently becomes a "lifestyle pitch," says the Commercial Observer. San Francisco is a prime example of this trend. The City by the Bay's mature Mission Bay neighborhood is set to host a couple of major mixed-use venues. Mission Rock will be an extension of AT&T Park where the San Francisco Giants play baseball, and the submarket will be joined in 2019 by the Chase Center, the home arena of the Golden State Warriors NBA franchise. The latter is going to be more than just a waterfront basketball venue. It will also boast eateries, retail space, a couple of office buildings and a five-and-a-half-acre public park. An expansion of the Third Street light rail system in Mission Bay should give bordering neighborhoods easy access.

Even more exciting, stadiums and arenas are now being viewed as hotbeds of innovation in some urban locales. Think about it. Such venues are among the few places left that can get thousands of people off their cell phones and out of the house to attend a single, public event. As a result, major tech companies like AT&T and Johnson Controls are implementing Internet of Things (or IoT) technology to drive efficiencies at these city-based venues. By making arenas "smart venues," they can become valuable test beds for smart city policy.

Smart Cities Dive recently singled out Nokia, which successfully tested its Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity applications at Indiana's Notre Dame Stadium in 2017. Dubbed Mobile Edge Computing, the technology gives fans better data connections, prevents wireless towers from getting overloaded with tens of thousands of people suddenly amassed in one venue, and provides enhanced mobile access to video streams that improve the overall experience. IBM, meanwhile, was fortunate to be involved with Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz stadium in the design and build stage. According to Big Blue's website, it was able to install "architecture infused with IT," all connected by the IBM Cloud and backed by top-of-the-line data protection, security and disaster recovery.

Some of these innovations can be scaled up to make cities smarter in general. Earlier this summer, for example, Nokia teamed up with Current to bring the latter's City IQ sensor technology to various Canadian cities. This joint venture will enable app developments to address everything from parking to traffic control to public safety. Such innovations can be more widely used if the public and private sectors work together.

Finally, some cities are using traditional sporting and entertainment venues to create entire leisure districts. St. Louis' Ballpark Village, situated adjacent to Busch Stadium, is the city's newest and trendiest dining, entertainment and nightlife destination, and is believed to be the first-ever sports-anchored mixed-use development. The project is being built in phases, with plenty of restaurants and bars already open. Future phases will offer upscale apartment units and more than 750,000 square feet of offices in the first Class-A office building to be erected in downtown St. Louis in almost three decades.

In addition, The Battery Atlanta is a $700 million mixed-use development around SunTrust Park, home to the Atlanta Braves. The Battery Atlanta is similar to a “town” in that it boasts residencies, a hotel, restaurants, retails stores and more. Beth Marshall, vice president of corporate communications for the Braves, said she has had more than 100 sports teams take a look at the project — and money might be one reason why.

According to a recent fiscal analysis conducted by the Georgia Tech Center for Economic Development Research, SunTrust Park and The Battery Atlanta will have an average annual economic impact of $18.9 million on Cobb County. Based on the many initiatives we’ve seen over the past year, it would seem The Battery Atlanta could soon represent a new norm.

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