Apparently.

Brandt Anderson, a young dot com millionaire via uSight, wanted to parlay his riches into ownership of an NBA team. He met with David Stern and Snoop Sterny Stern suggested that Brandt cut his ownership teeth in the NBDL. So Brandt bought the Utah Flash.

With his fingers already dipped in real estate development, Brandt looked to build a permanent home for his minor league team. Instead of building something one-off in an existing community, his preference was to develop an entirely new community with his team’s arena as the development’s centrepiece.

Enter Frank Gehry.

Brandt bought some land in Lehi, Utah (he’s a Mormon and believes in keeping work in Utah), and approached the most famous architect in the world to master plan his vision for a multi-billion dollar development. Not only will it include the arena, but it will also include Utah’s tallest tower upon completion, overlooking manmade lakes and surrouded by retail, office, and residential components.

The NBDL’s Mark Cuban? Some think so. He has his own blog, as does Cuban, and he’s already calling the DL out on what he sees as ridiculous rules and policies that are being abused by other DL teams – San Antonio’s in particular.

This is an excerpt from a story on his project with Gehry:

Frank Gehry chosen to design the Lehi Utah development

At 78, and with all his success, Frank Gehry is in the enviable position to pick and choose his projects. His latest foray is the design of a mega sports entertainment complex in Lehi, Utah which, when built, will include the state’s tallest building. The project, which has been approved, is the brainchild of Brandt Anderson, a Utah based entrepreneur and owner of the Utah Flash, an National Basketball Association (NBA) development team. Current plans call for a mixed-use development on an 85-acre site that includes an amphitheatre, a 450- foot high hotel, a shopping center, restaurants, and residences located around a man-made lake that will support wake-surfing and other water sports. There will also be a new, 10,000 seat arena for the Flash. The project is estimated to cost $2 billion US. Groundbreaking is scheduled for next year.

The latest on the project is that the housing market crisis is making it difficult to secure financing. Shame. These are the people you want to have access to money – their vision helps add to and enrich our communities. I hope it moves forward.

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