Escondido votes 4-1 to approve… something
- 12.16.10, 00:54
- 71 Comments
If you’ve been following the Twitter feed, you’d know that tonight I’ve been following the Escondido city council’s decision on whether to move forward with its $50 million AAA ballpark plan for the Padres.
The City Council voted 5-0 on two items: to move forward with EIR work and the acquisition of some land that would be needed for the ballpark. The last item was a MOU that brought more questions than answers among the Council and public speakers. Because of these questions, the Council chose to approve the MOU 4-1, with every Council member expressing reservations in an effort to get a better deal down the road.
A better deal than what, you ask? Let’s break down this $50 million, 9,000-seat ballpark:
- $40 million for ballpark construction
- $5.1 million for remaining land acquisition for the ballpark alone
- $0.4 million for demolition
- $0.5 million for paving a parking lot
- $6 million for additional property acquisition (relocations)
- $5 million for infrastructure
- $0.5 million for current expenses
- $2.5 million for contingency costs
A little addition shows that the cost above totals $60 million, not $50 million as advertised. To help shore this up, Jeff Moorad and his partners will pony up $5 million. That leaves a gap of some $5 million, money that is not accounted for yet. The city is also getting the team to pay a lease of $200,000 annually, adjusted for inflation every 5 years. There’s a serious shortfall between that lease payment and the debt service on the $50 million, though the Council didn’t seem overly concerned, citing revenues from other sources (generally other taxes including tax increment).
There are multiple opportunities for the City to back away from the project. As is customary with big projects, staff were quick to explain that a MOU is not a binding contract, and that if the Council doesn’t approve any of the subsequent necessary steps (lease terms, development agreement), the project won’t move forward. Those decisions aren’t really due until February. While the Council made it clear they want to get a better deal, Moorad was equally clear in his statement as the last speaker of the night. Moorad was not really open to reopening the deal, and he was afraid that the ballpark may not get built due to “death by a thousand paper cuts.” We’ll see if the agreement in the end has any significant material changes. For now, it’s a serious gamble by Escondido, one that will tie up its redevelopment funds for up to 25 years.
The public speaker discussion was, other than for a nasty racial debate component, somewhat reminiscent of what I saw in Fremont. Fremont is a good analogue because like Escondido, it’s trying to make a splash as a city that’s not particularly large. The types of discussions Escondido citizens are having about the ballpark could happen nearly anywhere, and with the San Jose Giants possible moving elsewhere, it’s likely those discussions will happen somewhere else. It’s quite likely that this Escondido deal will create a sort of baseline for what the Giants (Bill Neukom and partners) will ask for elsewhere in the Bay Area.
A Triple-A ballpark is larger than the typical Single-A ballpark. Here’s a partial list of California minor league teams and stadium capacities:
- San Jose Municipal Stadium – 4,200
- Banner Island Ballpark (Stockton) – 5,500, $22 million cost in 2005
- John Thurman Field (Modesto) – 4,000
- Clear Channel Stadium (Lancaster) – 4,600, $14.5 million in 1996
- Raley Field (Sacramento) – 11,000, $42 million in 2000
- Chukchansi Park (Fresno) – 12,500, $46 million in 2002
- Aces Ballpark (Reno, NV) – 9,100, $50 million in 2009
With inflation, a new Single-A park (~5,000 seats) would probably cost somewhere north of $25 million, though land cost could make that price tag vary considerably. Any city that might consider such a project would be smart to have it somewhere there is already a decent amount of public parking, along with BART, Caltrain, or even Capitol Corridor. The North Bay, which I’ve always thought would be a natural fit for a Giants minor league team, has none of those transit options. Yet I don’t consider transportation much of a deterrent, as I expect several groups to come out of the woodwork hoping to land the team if the A’s move to San Jose.
You know what it means if that happens? My work on this blog will NEVER end.
Does anyone know if there is a proximity guideline on how near an MLB can locate their A, AA or AAA teams? I’m just trying to paint a picture on posible locations for the San Jose Giants should the A’s set up shop in SJ.
There is no proximity guideline. Territories held by MLB teams require permission from said teams to allow a minor league team to move in. The Staten Island and Brooklyn Penn League teams required mutual permission by the Yanks and Mets to set up camp. To this day, San Jose is exempt from T-rights except for major league teams moving in.
@gmanca-thanks for references to TB….imagine if SJ got an expansion team. Then Oakland can keep there’s and the Giants stay put….now that would be fun (but totally unfeasible, i’m aware). I wonder how the LGO would react hehe….
Lowell Cohn was on Radnich the other day. He says there’s no way the A’s are going to San Jose; that he’d grow to 6’5″ or be 30 again before that ever happening…lol
Drag bar to a little past halfway (in Quicktime) when they get to A’s talk, starting with acquiring Matsui.
http://www.knbr.com/portals/3/podcasts/garyradnich/1214COHN.MP3
@jk–and LW says there is no way that he will build in Oakland—guess its Fremont or out of the area–which according to your past posts would make you feel great–
@GoA’s– I won’t feel great if that happens. I’ll just stop following them. Fremont is a long shot, but who knows in this crazy mess? I think LW will sell locally. He’ll make a nice profit in his 5 years.
I wouldn’t count on it….lock him out of SJ and he gains significant control over Oakland and any prospective Raiders deal…bottom line I wouldn’t expect him to be in any rush to do any favors–
@GoA’s–”I wouldn’t expect him to be in any rush to do any favors–”
Jeez, you may be right–and you think he’s despised now? This may get real ugly. If the city and MLB can get him to jump on board with VC, he can be kind of a hero in the O, like the Haas family. I’ll even give him some of my hard earned cash for tix. I’ve cut down big time on games the last few years–the least amount I’ve seen in 40 years of following them.
come on jk–Oakland screws the A’s for the past 15 years always thinking of the Raiders and Warriors first and you expect him to jump thru hoops for Oakland—payback can be a bitch as they say–
Bingo. While I’d be happy for the A’s to end up anywhere in the Bay Area including Oakland, if Oakland loses them I won’t feel bad for Oakland. They don’t deserve the A’s after the way they’ve disregarded them for the better part of 2 decades now.
Mark Purdy, who has a DIRECT line to LW and other MLB owners, says the “BRC” is only on the San Jose track. And “Da Man” doesn’t have to wish to be a different height/age to make it happen.
By the way all, who the hell is LC?
Lowell Cohn has no direct knowledge of anything. As usual, he is just spouting his opinion.
“Mark Purdy has a direct line to LW ans other MLB owners”? Says who? Mr. Purdy? Clearly, someone from MLB told Oakland that VC was the preferred Oakland location. How come Purdy didn’t break that news? He must have known, with his “direct line”. Lowell Cohn, Dave Newhouse and Monte Poole, are very good at what they do and don’t deserve the treatment from some folks around here.
“How come Purdy didn’t break that news?” Maybe because there wasn’t any “news” to break! And who cares if MLB “clearly” told Oakland that VC was the prefferred choice in “The O.” By the way, got proof of that David. FACT: MLB has visited SJ numerous times over the past few months, going over drawings and plans, because they like SJ. FACT: Purdy’s direct connections to MLB/Wolff; he’s not just spouting an opinion.
Cohn, Newhouse, and Poole are just feeding you what you want to eat David; that’s it! As Jeffrey stated above, no direct knowledge of anything.
Last post on this thread to rehash what we KNOW to date (i.e. facts):
OAKLAND- announced they would commence an EIR for a potential 39K seat ballpark at Victory Court/JLS.
SAN JOSE- Quid pro quo with AT&T, which will lead to the acquisition of the largest parcel at Diridon South. Airport West deal with Lew Wolff, which will provide him with 5 years to concentrate on Cisco Field vs. Earthquakes SSS. San Jose RDA land sale of 7 acres downtown in the amount of $31 million, which will be more than enough to cover the remaining land acquisitions at Diridon.
Next time someone wants to talk to you about who has the “momentum,” send them to this post. C yall at the next thread!
@TonyD–apparently you must be new to the bay area. LC was a long time Chronicle sports columnist, who now writes for the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. He’s probably considered the best writer in the BA. Like David was saying, if Purdy is so much on the inside track, how come there’s no breaking news in his column on the A’s situation? Because he knows about as much as the rest, unless he’s linked up directly to Bud’s brain.
Poole, Cohn and Newhouse are all fine writers. But read their columns, they are not speaking on behalf of people in the know. They are speaking on the basis of their opinion. Which is fine, but call them out on that isn’t giving them any undue “treatment.” It is calling it out. Nothing more, nothing less.
@Tony D – if you want to silence the pro-Oakland crowd, it’s quite easy: ask them how they plan to finance the A’s stadium. ;) Next thread….
And Lowell Cohn is so senior and revered around these parts that he has been able to step up from the San Fancisco newspaper to the almighty …Santa Rosa one !
@ob–the Chron, losing millions a year for the last decade, thinned their ranks and many employees and writers took buyouts, while the rest took pay cuts.Santa Rosa’s paper, owned by NY TImes, is fairly solid compared to most, and hasn’t lost 60% of their circulation like the Chron has. Chron’s at 223k (down from 550k in the early 90′s) .The Mercury, CoCo Times and ANG papers thinned their ranks also. It’s a tough biz since the Net has gotten bigger and bigger. Glenn Dickey, also left the Chron back in 2005, has his own blog and also writes for the freebie Examiner. Dave Newhouse has been around forever, left the Trib after Media News bought them from Maynard in the early 90′s, went to the CoCo Times and is now back at the Trib. The Mercury sports is not much different than the CoCo Times and ANG papers. All owned by the same company, Media News, the consolidation has made the papers not much different outside local news and their mastheads. FYI, the Mercury News , before Media News bought them 4 years ago, for a few years had no local coverage for the A’s on the road games and just carried wired stories. They got the full coverage now by Joe Stiglich, who is the the one and only beat writer in all the dozen papers in the bay area that Media News owns. The A’s coverage in the Mercury is still usually relegated to page 5, while the G’s often get front page, even when they’re not playing and the A’s are. Yeah, I can really sense the interest and excitement of A’s baseball in SJ and the SB…lol
I’ve let this thread go way too far. Thanks for nothing, fellas.