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Meanwhile, in San Jose...
From the San Jose Business Journal: San Jose's Redevelopment Agency is continuing with its efforts to acquire the Diridon South properties. To do this they are going around the city's charter, which requires a public vote before any money is spent on a sports facility. They're able to do it by saying that the land could be developed any number of ways, a stadium only being one. While this is certainly true on the surface (previously published planning docs indicate the city's desire to developing housing on the site), most everyone around the new City Hall knows that it's definitely a stadium site they are trying to secure. The latest update:The RDA is ordering up appraisals, and on Aug. 9, the City Council tentatively approved the sale of 9.22 acres on Julian Street to provide the agency with about $14 million to help pay for the land, which includes the old KNTV studios, a PG&E power substation and Stephen's Meat Products.
Ever the cheerleader for San Jose effort, Santa Clara County Assessor and Baseball San Jose board member Larry Stone got in a few digs at Oakland over the plan when he was interviewed by KTVU-2 on Friday. Regarding the Diridon South site:The San Jose Redevelopment Agency should have land secured for a possible ballpark on the western edge of Downtown San Jose, near the Diridon train station, within the next 30 to 60 days -- when Wolff's Oakland proposal collapses, San Jose will be waiting, Stone said.
2 comments:
San Jose's 9.2 acres seem pitiful compared to the 90 acres Lew is asking for in Oakland.
me thinks Lew is looking for more than just a ballpark, and San Jose might be too 'built up' for his liking.
The 9.2 acres is not the ballpark site. It's just part of a land deal that will be used to help fund the purchase of the Diridon South site. With the Diridon South site, most of the landowners are willing to sell, so there's little threat of relocation difficulty or eminent domain.
Wolff has to go the route of this expansive development plan in part because other "normal" sources of stadium financing, such as seat licenses and bond measures, can't be done in Oakland. He might find a more receptive audience for seat licenses in San Jose. Besides, if he did look in San Jose (and that's a big IF), he'd already have business interests in place that the A's would help support.
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