Update 5:30 PM – Looks like this turned into a nice pre-election announcement for Mayor Quan.
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Original post:
Today’s the “big” deadline day for Coliseum City. Or maybe not. Consider the following closed session agenda item, to be taken up this afternoon:
b) Property: Coliseum City properties (various properties bounded by San Leandro Street, 66th Avenue, Edgewater and Helgenberger)
City Negotiators: Fred Blackwell, Gregory Hunter, Larry Gallegos, Daniel Rossi
Negotiating Parties: Bay Investment Group, JRDV Architects Inc., HKS Architects, Inc.
Under Negotiation: Price and terms for disposition of the property
Not much to go on, is there? We know that the deadline is there thanks to previous documents about Coliseum City which specified 10/21:
ENA Timeframe: The Negotiation Period under the ENA is hereby extended to run until October 21, 2014, and may only be extended an additional six months with administrative approval.
October 21 also marks the 360-day point of consideration of the project, during which BayIG was supposed to provide a set of deliverables. A quick recap of some of the major deal points:
- Tenant sign-on from one, two, or three current sports franchise tenants (Raiders, A’s, Warriors) – None so far
- Market Data Analysis – The lengthier second part was supposed to have been released by now, has not been made publicly available
- Infrastructure Study – Completed
- Investor Business Case – Reportedly late, not publicly released
Last week there was news that a new, previously unknown investor may come in to save the project. Word was that it would be Perry Capital – a hedge fund with two recent executives who have a minority share of the Raiders – they and the City are going to great pains to keep their involvement under wraps until/unless the ENA is extended. Now Matier and Ross report something different:
Council members privately told us they were encouraged by the team’s 11th-hour addition of new deep-pocket investors being represented by San Diego asset manager adviser Floyd Kephart, chairman of the board of Renaissance Cos. Kephart is expected to take the lead role in the newly reconstituted group, New City Development LLC.
So goodbye BayIG, hello New City Development LLC? Okay.
Also last week, we saw a new website promoting the project, Coliseum City Now. I looked into it and found out that the domain was only acquired on September 26. A companion Facebook page started up during the summer. Assuming that both are under the purview of BayIG/JRDV, the timing seems a little suspect. Coliseum City never bothered to have an website outside of the City’s project page for a year. Why have one now? There’s also a Twitter feed, which has never made a post and has less than 20 followers. Chances of a post coming after 5 PM today? Excellent.
Coliseum City in full buildout
In anticipation of the extension, some unnamed City officials reached out to Raiders fans to make a show of support at the open session at 5, during which the decision is expected to be announced. Keep in mind that it’s basically up to the City Administrator, not the City Council. Also understand that not extending the deadline would effectively kill the project, giving Mark Davis every excuse to go to Los Angeles. What other choice does Oakland have?
If the City announces the ENA extension and the new investor, the mountain to climb for them will be steeper that the Mt. Davis upper deck. They’ll need to wrap up the basic terms of the deal, have the Raiders sign on before they decide to move, and start work with the JPA and Alameda County to put together the DDA (Disposition and Development Agreement), which would allow the project to move forward in earnest, in whatever form it takes. In reality, Coliseum City has 4 months to work out the details, not 6.
On a related note, the comments period for the Draft EIR expired on Friday, October 17. The City will take all the comments and get questions answered from stakeholders and other groups that need to provide answers (Caltrans, PG&E, and the PUC for starters). The EIR runs on a separate track from the business side of the deal, though both need to be resolved/approved before any dirt can be turned.
As for the news impact on the A’s – as I’ve said for some time, the funding gap ($600 million) makes the inclusion of a ballpark extraordinarily difficult to pull off in a way that would satisfy both the baseball team, the public sector, and the private investors who are looking for a healthy return. Moving to more far-off forms of financing makes the likelihood of a ballpark even less.
I’ll be checking into the live stream of the open session while watching the World Series. The mix of tweets promises to be entertaining and at times quite confusing.
newballpark.org 
good grief… into the flood again, same old trip it was back then.
Let the hate begin
“Hate” is not generally associated with reason. If you’d prefer to look at this with Pollyanaish rose colored glasses, cool. But stop minimizing legitimate criticism as an emotional reaction. Because it isn’t, and it does nothing for your cause.
Offering legit criticism will do more to make something happen than blindly cheerleading any announcement of a new “partner” and drooling at how much money, Forest City, wait… I mean BayIG, er, I mean, the Prince of Dubai… Oh, wait… It’s totally New City Development that this project has been lacking. Those other developers, they don’t know what they are doing.
Legit criticism about Oakland on here is laughable, I’ll continue with the word hate. Yes we all are frustrated with all of the lack of progress but the city is trying more than your Im bigger badder better than you SJ lawsuit is about. And nothing is stopping Lew from providing his plan that’s fair for all parties, oh that’s right he doesn’t want Oakland so nothing he presents will be fair, it’s to sabotage the real good faith effort by the city to keep its teams. Let’s wait and see how you all react to the surprise at press conference tonight, more hate and hate that’s all. But this project will get done guarantee that and when Sj suit gets tossed it will be the crossroads for Lew and the Lew lovers.
Press conference surprise? Do tell.
Are you insane? Wolff and Fisher have never entertained the idea of taking the A’s out of the region and haven’t even asked for public money to build a stadium. Mark Davis has repeatedly noted a desire for public funding and has participated in several actions indicating a serious desire to relocate the team outside of the Bay Area.
The most incompetent party in all of this is the City of Oakland leadership, followed closely by Davis. If there’s a real bad guy here, it’s Davis without a doubt.
this was funny.
So has anyone figured out what the surprise was? Jean Quan cynically playing everyone for idiots? That’s not surprising…
One last thing, I’m not from SH or party to any lawsuit.
*SJ
PS, hey Karim. If your surprise is Jean Quan saying someone wants to invest $500M, I point you to the Prince of Dubai.
This might be the biggest clusterfuck — with the strongest refusal to die — that I’ve ever seen. At least it feels like it’s all coming to a head within the next few months to a year… maybe.
It won’t die right now because there’s a tightly contested election in a couple of weeks. It will die.
Especially when my main man and sports-hater, Peter Liu, becomes mayor. <_<
Unless you pay attention to the details, it seems like something is getting done #RearrangingDeckChairs
So does this try to box the A’s into dealing with the ENA developer even though they’ve said they won’t? Doesn’t this mean the A’s can’t make any kind of formal proposal of their own for the Coliseum property as long as this ENA exists? This sure looks like Oakland favoring the Raiders over the A’s. MLB has to ask itself it really really wants to stay at the Coliseum for many more years and risk the A’s even becoming homeless? It’ll be fun to “celebrate” the 10th anniversary of Selig’s proclamation that the A’s “cannot and will not stay” indefinitely at the Coliseum. We’re already more than halfway there.
I don’t know the legit answer, but I believe the ENA is between the City of Oakland and the Raiders/Developers. The JPA isn’t bound by this and thus the Robert Bobb hire to work on Coliseum City “or any other potential development.”
In which case, nope. Lew Wolff and company can propose a competing plan to the JPA.
If the ENA developer has exclusive negotiating rights, then how can Wolff propose anything?
As he said, the ENA is with the city, not the JPA. If the county wants to talk to Wolff and offer a competing plan they’re more than welcome to do so. Oakland be damned.
If Lew Wolff was really interested in staying in Oakland and building a ballpark, he would be attempting to work with the developers and at least show some interest in the project. Wolff wants to muck things up and get himself “kicked out of Oakland.” Wolff has no intention of building anything in Oakland. Making sure that Howard Terminal was out of the way and then securing a convenient short-term lease with an easy out escape clause, was the epicenter of Wolff’s exit strategy.
Let’s face it Football is still king and if Oakland can retain the team that wants to any and use the football stadium as a way to develop the entire project, then maybe Wolff will get his ten year wish to abandon Oakland fulfilled.
Also, Marine Layer, I’ve just about had it with your and mean spirited insults. Stop insulting your guests or no one will post on this site. You don’t need to be referring to PJK , myself or any other poster as “idiots.” Grow up. You’re a bit too prickly.
@Elmano – I’ll stop calling you an idiot when you stop acting like one. You’re welcome to leave anytime you like, you don’t have to post here.
Plus 1
You’ve never actually addressed the question: Why do you even come here if you don’t like it? Seriously. Just answer that so everyone can begin to understand. Even if that answer is “to troll the shit out of everyone”, fine. At least that’d be definitive.
You’re the moderator, you should show a little more class. You don’t need to insult your guests. I like the technical aspect of the blog and the discussions but the prickly attitudes I can do without.
It’s a personal blog, where ML generates nearly all of the content. He can do whatever he wants with it and run it however he pleases. I don’t understand why you can’t see that.
@Elmano – Yes I am the moderator, and I have spent hours sifting through your self-aggrandizing soapbox jerkoffs with nary a thank-you from the likes of you. I don’t expect you to appreciate that, but I expect you to appreciate the fact that as moderator I can call you (and pjk) on your BS as I see fit. Don’t like it? There’s the door.
Wolff is interested in Oakland (otherwise he wouldn’t endorse Kaplan -who is for the CC site though) Wolff has no interest with the current CC proposal because his goal is to own and develop the land at the Colisuem site. Why is Wolff siding with Kaplan though? – confusing.
@ duffer
That’s a good point, about Kaplan and CC. I guess it’s just politics. I’m confused myself.
Elmano it right to assert that name calling is childish and not appropriate of a responsible blog. ML is like the kid with the bat and ball that is going home because the rules do not conform to his/her liking.
ML, are you working for the A’s? Take your sabermetrics and Billy and be thankful you still exist in the MLB! I am an A’s fan, but if my Raiders stay and they leave, oh well, Go Giants!!!!
@market_savy – The “rules?” I’m the blogrunner and moderator, I make the rules. And yes, I can take my ball and go home by shutting down comments altogether. Less than 1% of readers actually comment on posts here. The only people who will truly miss the comments are the people who feel the need to make them. Do you not know how this works?
@ ML
Wow, only 1% of visitors actually comment that’s really exciting. I am glad the site gets that much traffic. In the past, I have been one of the people that have asked you to leave the comment section open, but I would be just as happy with your site, if you decided not to, thanks for all the hard work.
@Lakeshore/Neil – definitely, the comments can be very informative. However the tradeoff – for example, giants trolls hijacking a thread discussing Levi’s stadium – may not be worth the effort reading them.
Market savy, it’s a blog, not a news site. ML can comport himself however he wishes. Don’t like it, tough luck. There are no “rules” on how a blog should be run beyond what the site administrator (in this case ML) deems them to be. If he wants to call a fool, a fool, that’s his prerogative.
Amen to that. Besides I like the Raiders and Giants colors.
I have been reading ML, for over 5 years and have respected his/her views. However, name calling his followers does not solve any ballpark issues. Lets face it, the NFL rules and our little club should just fall in line.
I’m calling bullshut. There’s no way you could have been reading for 5+ years and not know whether ML is male or female.
So you’re saying MLB should just kowtow to The NFL? Great strategy that…
Sock Warning, y’all!
People forget someone has to pay for this site, and the moderator is free to do as he or she pleases in blogs or in groups. Looks like its still SNAFU with Oakland, I’ll just get ready for the moving vans to line up at the Coliseum in the middle of the night around January/February for the Raiders move to parts unknown. Its not going to be LA unless Davis sells a good chunk of the team to another group like AEG. I am going to place a bet on London or San Antonio.
Goodbye Oakland A’s
Unless you can step your game up on and off the field. The by area crowd will root for the SF Giants. Who look like they are on their way to another world series.
To appease Oakland Lew Wolff should step out of the Raiders way and ask Oakland if they can use the north side parking lot to build a temp or full ballpaark. No more time for chokers both A’s and Raiders need to share the Coliseum property
@Tony – please stay on topic – this thread is discussing the A’s/Raiders new ballparks – it does not pertain to the effing giants.
I’m on topic Duff Beer. Shouldn’t u be drinking duff. Or talking about Hillary Duff. .don’t worry about what the duff I say duff. Is that duff enough for u?? …..duff
Anyway the A’s have worn out their welcome and I feel that Lee Wolff should get out of the Oakland and Raiders way. Just build that temp ballpark
@Tony – Hey harry how you doing?
Ml u small duck bastard
It’s hard to know if the new investors actually have all the money needed or are they more like consultants that will try to bring everything together with a minimal contribution and therefore still large funding gaps. 90 days to find out what the Raiders might do. Right in time to let the NFL know in Feb, whether they will be moving before next season. At this point, I find myself frustrated with all this Raiders focus, with the A’s as an afterthought. I either want CC to fail or for Wolff to be given a large chunk of the North Lot to develop independently of CC.
Robo shut the hell up. I bet u drink sewer water
@Tony – Goodnight dickhead. You must live the saddest existence, having to create new aliases for yourself, trying to get attention for your nonsensical trolling rants. You’re pathetic. Get a life. GTFO.
The SF Giants And Oakland Raiders are the king of centralized bay area sports. If A’s want to win back the Oakland fan base they need to build a ballpark and have a diverse lockeroom.
San Jose and ml leave Oakland and the bay area. U are not wanted here. And I meant to day small dick bastard.