Selig to visit San Jose

According to this report from the Merc, the Commonwealth Club's Silicon Valley chapter scored big in getting an appearance from none other than commish Bud Selig. Selig is scheduled to speak September 7 at the McEnery Convention Center, where he will speak on numerous topics including steroids and expansion. The most locally intriguing issues are, of course, relocation and territorial rights. This is probably the best opportunity for San Jose partisans to find out if Selig is willing to budge on his hardline stance regarding the Giants' rights to Santa Clara County. There is an issue of timing, since the Oakland ballpark plans were announced only weeks ago and Selig won't want to say or do anything to potentially jeopardize that initiative. It's likely that Selig could spend the day touring the Coliseum North site with Lew Wolff, perhaps even alternate sites like Fremont. If San Jose officials were able to get an hour or so to make an unofficial pitch and tour, it would be a major coup for their efforts.

I, for one, will make every effort to attend the event.

SB 4 passes Appropriations Committee

Yesterday, SB 4 passed easily in the State Assembly's Appropriations Committee, 13-4. The three Bay Area Assembly members on the committee (Mark Leno, Johan Klehs, Joe Nation) all voted yes. Now, it should be on to a third reading and a vote in the Assembly. Afterwards, the heavily-amended bill has to go back to the Senate for approval, and then finally to the Governor's desk. SB 4 will have to compete with dozens of other bills, many of which are higher profile. The journey through the Legislature must be completed by September 9, which marks the end of the session.

Again, should SB 4 pass, there are possibilities for raising tax-free financing for a new ballpark and surrounding infrastructure, without requiring a local vote to authorize funds. Because the bill itself has been weakened, it's only reasonable to expect that the I-Bank Board would be very careful about how it qualifies projects, since it will have the final say. If the Wolff plan proceeds with land acquisition and then construction, it's likely that either the JPA or Oakland would be asked to make a proposal to the I-Bank, even though the revenue streams used to pay off the stadium would be largely private.

CBS-5 Mayoral roundtable

CBS-5's Hank Plante hosted a Charlie Rose-style roundtable including the mayors of the three big Bay Area cities: Jerry Brown, Ron Gonzales, and Gavin Newsom. The discussion covered a multitude of issues including crime, the Bay Bridge, gay marriage, and homelessness.

Inevitably, Plante brought up the issue of competition among the three cities, and that meant the A's and San Jose's thinly veiled efforts to get the A's. True to form, Gonzales said little about the A's directly, and Brown repeated his position of "let's keep the A's here, but at what public cost?" Anyone expecting heated debate about the A's was sure to be disappointed. It's becoming apparent that Gonzales is merely keeping the idea of baseball in San Jose warm for the next San Jose mayor, while Brown used the roundtable as a lengthy politicking session, as shown by his almost complete disinterest in the subject matter.

Attendance watch, August edition

The recent surge in the standings helped boost the A's turnstile performance during the first week of the 12-game August homestand. As expected, attendance cooled somewhat with the weather and the arrival of the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals, but the average attendance for the homestand was still excellent, at 32,555 per game.

To date, that puts the A's 4% down from last year. This season's total attendance through 65 dates is 1,697,637. In 2004, it was 1,769,184. The good news is that the A's should surpass last season's pace (not total attendance) in the next series versus the Yankees. The following three opponents (Texas, Seattle, Minnesota) probably won't make much of a dent. At least there are a Mark Kotsay bobblehead night (rare to have bobblehead giveaways on weeknights) on September 6, and a Fireworks Night on September 23 versus the Rangers. The last series of the year is a four-game mid-week set against The O.C., and while the last two games should be well-attended by default, attendance at the first two games may depend on the A's relative playoff status. To beat last season's total attendance mark, the A's will have to draw around 31,500 a game for the rest of the season - not impossible, but a challenge because of the way the schedule is drawn up. If the A's are in wild card or division championship contention during the final week of the season, they should be able to beat it. They'll need 1,000 more than that per game to beat 2003's total.

Wolff needs someone on the inside + Property owners have their say

Two articles by the Trib's Paul Rosynsky today. First off is a report with quotes from numerous property owners who may be willing to relocate if the price is right, but also hate eminent domain with a passion. Next is an article detailing a request from Lew Wolff to the City of Oakland, asking for someone within City Hall to assist with the plan (land acquisition, zoning, planning). Oakland did have just the man for that job once upon a time, but Robert Bobb was never supported by Mayor Brown, and so he left to a place where his skills could be utilized: Washington, DC. Larry Reid, as much as he may be committed to this, will not get the job done alone. There needs to be someone on the inside who can navigate the political maze and broker the necessary deals to get everything in place. At my day job, we call this person a "champion." The champion is willing to do the leg work, the follow-ups on all related parties - someone who has considerable influence within but won't be distracted by other issues, as an elected official would. Will the city produce such an individual? We'll find out shortly.

The media has questions

The Chronicle has a new editorial that has the same tone as Thursday's Tribune op-ed. I imagine Wolff must be a pretty good poker player, though I imagine he's more likely to play hold-em, stud, or baseball than no-peekie. Then again, with so many Saturday evening games, perhaps he's a fan of night baseball.

Eric Lai of the East Bay Business Times has an excellent article on the impending land acquisition efforts. There are some mind-blowing numbers, including an estimate by the paper's analysts that the land in question could be worth up to $315 million. Or, at the below market rate of $20 per square foot, the land would cost $126 million. Keep in mind that the purchase of the land would not be a cost borne by the City of Oakland, but whatever the final figure may be, it's a substantial investment. The payoff potential is enormous though, as Wolff and his partners could net hundreds of millions if not billions if they built, say, 5,000 market rate condos on the site. The piece ends with a rather ominous note:

Wolff has set a one-year deadline for garnering the political and monetary support for his project. That assumes unrealistically quick cooperation from a wide range of government bureaucracies, critics say.

"Lew might have come up with something so big in order to see Oakland fail," said Zennie Abraham, a former Oakland mayoral adviser and sports business owner.

Having made his best effort, Wolff would then be free to negotiate moving the A's to a city such as Portland, Sacramento or Las Vegas, all of which are clamoring for a Major League Baseball franchise and willing to pony up more money than Oakland is.

Coliseum South = Plan B? + Transit struggles + As the baguette turns

The CoCo Times' Guy Ashley mentions an important nugget not previously reported from the 8/12's JPA meeting:

Though Wolff said the team is open to all possible alternative sites, the preferred one appears to involve a compact new A's stadium in the Coliseum's north parking lot, and a massive new parking facility on the south side of the Coliseum near Hegenberger Road.

One East Bay official at the center of the A's ballpark initiative said the site repeatedly comes up as the most logical Plan B for the stadium project.

"It's his fallback position," said Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid, who spoke with Wolff about the Coliseum scenario days before Wolff went public with the baseball team's grand Plan A to transform a tired swath of land along I-880 between 66th Avenue and High Street.

While it's not the major development plan proposed at the meeting, it's a reasonable fallback should acquisition of parcels within the preferred site prove difficult. However, it does pose issues involving financing. Limited acreage makes the investment potential at the Coliseum North/South lots far less. There's also a question of whether such an option, which places the ballpark on the north end and extra parking along Hegenberger, makes sense. The Raiders don't want garage parking. They want surface lots for their fans to tailgate. It makes more sense to put a ballpark on the Malibu lot and build other parking along Hegenberger, so that interference with the Raiders' interest is minimal. They'd also have a chance to further develop the Hegenberger land, which would be a short walk from the ballpark itself. Whatever Plan B actually is, it's good to know that at least there is a Plan B.

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Another item of interest is the fallout from the federal transportation bill (Fremont Argus). While San Jose Congressman Mike Honda inserted language that will help the BART-to-San Jose project, other projects were hurt because they didn't receive federal matching funds that are desperately needed to complete them. The BART Warm Springs extension and the BART Oakland Airport People Mover are two local projects that received nothing. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission may have the ability to shift money around to get some of 10 projects on the list going, but they're going to need to be creative. If something doesn't happen to bridge the funding gaps for each of these projects, they could be delayed at least two to four years, or even indefinitely.

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The final item today is a report from the Chronicle on the closure of the Parisian sourdough bakery in San Francisco. An institution for 149 years, Parisian was swallowed up by Interstate Brands (Twinkies, Wonder Bread) several years ago.

Interstate Brands, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year, is shutting down two San Francisco bakeries as part of a cost-cutting move, an effort "to right the ship,'' said Interstate Bakery spokesman Jason Booth. The second bakery, on Bryant Street near San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood, made Wonder Bread, Twinkies and Ho-Ho snack cakes. It also closed Friday. Interstate said neither plant was profitable.

The point of all of this? Interstate is keeping their Oakland bakery open. In a previous post, I noted that this is the landmark Colombo bakery, which just so happens to take up several acres of the land Lew Wolff is trying to acquire. There are a couple of possibilities here. Since Interstate has two factories that they would have to liquidate, it may be possible for Councilman Larry Reid to ask Interstate to relocate their Colombo operations to San Francisco, if that's feasible. Of course, that's probably not an appealing notion to workers at the Colombo bakery. There's also the possibility that because Colombo is a healthy brand and may have some special strategic importance to Interstate, that they may be unwilling to sell the property. Everything has a price, but there are certainly valid arguments for making it either more or less difficult. Only when these parties are engaged will we know for certain. Add to that the fact that negotiating with every individual company or landowner is a unique set of circumstances, and you can start to appreciate the effort that will be needed to pull this deal off.

SB 4 amended again - more changes

Prior to a vote in the Appropriations committee, SB 4 was amended again. This time, there's a wholesale change in how the funding system works. The biggest change is the elimination of the California Public Performance Facilities Authority, the body that would have approved or rejected any stadium or venue projects that applied for funding through this new state-based process. Instead, now all approvals would go through the State Infrastructure Bank's board.

The impact is huge, in that the I-Bank's board is made up of much different characters than the Authority's would-be board. The Authority board would have been comprised of entertainment and sports industry veterans. The I-Bank's board is made up financial and policy wonks, who collectively may be less inclined to approve some of the more questionable projects than the Authority's board would have been. The net effect is that the bill's potential power in practice has been significantly reduced. In fact, the I-Bank's staff provided the following comment:

Conversely, staff at the Infrastructure Bank believe that this bill would not provide to the state any new tools from those currently available to a local government or joint powers authority seeking to finance these facilities.

Will the bill come up for a vote in the Assembly and then get signed by the Governor before the end of the short session? I'd say no, at least not in this rather neutered form.

Update (8/19): The bill was just placed in the Appropriations committee's suspense file, which means that it will be further studied because of its fiscal impact. Another vote in Appropriations is scheduled for Thursday, 8/25.

Trib Op-Ed

Todays' editorial from the Oakland Tribune shows optimism in the ballpark plan, but withholds judgment on it until more details come out. An important issue that is brought up in the piece is the High St/880 interchange. Will it have to be revamped to handle additional residential, commercial, and event-related traffic? Would the same have to happen for the 66th Ave overpass as well? One of the few good things about postgame traffic from the Coliseum is that the cars in the north lots have to exit via 66th Ave, while those in the south lots exit via Hegenberger Rd, splitting traffic. That wouldn't be the case with a new ballpark whose traffic would be largely centered around 66th. A new thoroughfare could be constructed to take northbound traffic to High St, but that traffic could end up running through a residential neighborhood, which isn't ideal.

There's also a larger philosophical question here: Does this mean Oakland is near the end of its image as a blue collar town? While it's possible that not all of the businesses that would be displaced would leave Oakland completely, the plan is a classic case of gentrification. Like many other cities with a long manufacturing and industrial heritage, Oakland has been struggling for several years with the idea of gentrification (and the economic benefits it brings) against maintaining its gritty image. Many of the food processing companies that once called Oakland home, such as Mother's Cookies and Fleischmann's Yeast, left long ago. Colombo Baking may leave as well. Some may bemoan this major change as the loss of Oakland's soul. Others may welcome it, saying it's a better fate than that suffered by Detroit or Cleveland. Considering the fact that yesterday, 12,000 people lined up outside the nearby Wal-Mart in East Oakland to apply for only 400 openings, perhaps progress isn't the such the bitter pill many make it out to be.

Coliseum North Photo Overview + Wolff development news

The ballpark site photo overview is now available. The file is slightly over 1 MB and is in PDF (Acrobat) form. A permanent link has been created in the sidebar as well. Here's a sample photo:



In tangentially related news, L.A.'s Staples Center (owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group) is getting $10 million in video and seating upgrades. Staples is only five years old, but AEG wants to preserve Staples Center's reputation as the most glamorous, feature-packed arena in the nation. AEG is also developing land near Staples, including the big 1,200-room hotel that it is building with Maritz, Wolff & Co. The hotel is scheduled for groundbreaking in the fall.

Response from BART

I received a response from Linton Johnson, Chief Spokesperson for BART (and former NBC-11 anchor/reporter). The answers he gave indicated how early in the process all of this ballpark and ballpark village talk is.

According to Johnson, the $70 million figure is based on "rough paper estimates" on how much it would cost to build a new station. A complete study would have to be undertaken for BART to be able to obtain firmer figures and a breakdown of costs. More interesting facts:

• The cost would depend largely on whether the station is on-line (used during all operating hours) or off-line (used during games only). So far, no stations on the current system operate on an off-line basis, but it was considered for some of the stations between Colma and SFO.
  
• The 10 car estimate is based only on operating a station on an off-line basis. An unknown higher number of cars would be needed if the station were to operate on-line/full time. The final number of cars needed would depend on a final study.
• The A's have not called BART yet to ask them to explore this further.
• The process of getting a BART station approved and built involves some of the typical studies such as an environmental impact report (EIR) and a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process.
• About prioritizing such a project, Johnson said, "Money and politics will determine priority."

So the rough costs cited were very rough, and could inflate quite a bit when all is said and done. Another item from the drawing is the pedestrian footbridge that would have to be built from the station to the village, similar to the existing Coliseum BART bridge. The cost of such a bridge would have to be included. For reference, a similar bridge project being built between Petco Park and Harbor Drive/San Diego Convention Center just received $2.8 million in federal funds. Oh, infrastructure!

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In other news, columnist Evan Weiner of the Bergen Record/NorthJersey.com details the trend of ballpark village developments occurring in MLB cities.

And in Sacramento...

The Legislature is back after their month-long recess. That means it's time to check on SB 4. According to the latest update from aroundthecapitol.com, SB 4 is scheduled to hit the Assembly Appropriations committee on Wednesday. This legislation could have an enormous impact on the final deal between the A's and Oakland/JPA, because of the tax-free financing that would be available, as well as the ability of groups to use that financing to fund all sorts of infrastructure - including transit improvements like a new BART station or off-ramps, pedestrian bridges, etc.

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.

Pics of Coliseum North coming soon!

After today's game, I drove around the 90-acre site and took pictures of the various buildings in the area, the roads and railroad tracks. I'll put them into a Photo Overview soon enough. (And no, I was not accosted at any point.)

In the meantime, there's a new report from the CBS-5 (KPIX) with video of the area and feedback from local businesses.

The Price of BART

Paul Rosynsky's Tribune article on yesterday's announcement has a couple of eye-popping revelations regarding BART:

BART spokesman Linton Johnson said it is possible for such a station to be built, but estimated it could cost at least $70 million.

In addition, Johnson said, BART would have to buy at least 10 additional train cars to service the station and residential units and would ask Wolff and the team to pay for them. That cost could be as much as $40 million.

I'm flabbergasted. I figured the station might cost $50-60 million, so $70 million isn't out of line, but the cost of buying extra train cars really pushes the price up. $110 million for a station one mile north of the Coliseum station? That's enormous. This sets the stage for the BART issue to become a showstopper. It's up to Oakland officials to get really creative on financing this piece.

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Elsewhere the Trib, Dave Newhouse's column trumpets the convergence of two catalytic events for the A's. Eric Gilmore of the Contra Costa Times also chimes in with his column, which expresses a fair amount of optimism. And to answer one of the financing questions:

Wolff said he hopes to use money from the redevelopment project to help fund the A's stadium. What he won't do is sell personal seat licenses, which contributed to the Raiders' debacle.

First Impressions

Disclaimer: I am not a professional architecture critic or architect, so these comments should be taken with several grains of salt.

Now that the curtain has been lifted on the A's plans, we can start to dissect them in earnest. I have to admit that I didn't get the site right at all, but I promise to make up for it by putting together a proper profile on what can now be called the "Coliseum North" site. Expect to see that early next week. I didn't get the site right at all because I had no idea the plan would be this expansive. By thinking small, I limited myself to only certain sites. Again, that's an indication of why Mr. Wolff is a developer and I'm just a blogger.

Looking at the first batch of renderings (available in large format alongside Glenn Dickey's story in the Chronicle), there are a couple of words that immediately come to mind: humble and quirky. Humble refers to the unassuming, streamlined profile the ballpark cuts with its exterior. Quirky comes from the various unique elements in the outfield.

Humble

To understand the visual effect, look at the grandstand façade. Instead of large, ubiquitous, monolithic brick walls, the grandstand is open air, with brick-covered columns to define it. Access ramps, which are not present in the rendering, tend to be open air as well and should follow the same design philosophy. Since the playing surface is sunken, the columns themselves probably rise only 40 feet. Compare that to SBC Park, whose façade rises at least 60 feet from street level. Some other observations:

• The two-deck design allows the design to be low-slung, eliminating the need for numerous concourse levels.
• Luxury suites are not present in the grandstand. They will be there at some point.
  
• Even the roof over the upper deck appears to be made out of either mesh or a translucent material, giving it less definition and giving the appearance that the roof is not contributing to the height of the grandstand. Whether a roof is even needed is questionable, since wind and rain aren't big problems in Oakland. At SBC Park the roof has purpose. Not so in Oakland.
• The light standards are almost wispy.
  
• The outfield buildings are of varying heights, all taller than the grandstand, which further lends to the idea that the ballpark is small. Even the entry plaza behind home plate doesn't announce itself except for six columns that jut out from the rest of the structure.
  

Quirky

Just a brief glance at the outfield in this rendering tells you that this ballpark is busy. There are so many different elements that it can be distracting. I imagine that once inside the ballpark, the effect will be more subdued since the elements will be filled with patrons and the focus will be on the on-field action. Let's take a look at these elements one-by-one:

• LF Corner Bullpen (yellow) - This is probably the home bullpen based on its size. It starts well down the left field line, continues past the foul pole, and ends at what is probably a combination retail/restaurant building, with standing room areas for fans to watch pitchers warm up. The idea originated in the design for Safeco Field in Seattle.
• LF Corner Building - While it certainly borrows heavily from Petco Park's integration of the Western Metal Supply building, it doesn't serve quite the same purpose. Besides the restaurant, there may be extended club facilities and the A's administration offices, both of which would have enviable views of the field. Atop the building would be a large party deck and extra seating, which could be used or not used depending on expected attendance or high demand.
• Bleacher Triangle (Left-Center) - This is definitely my favorite element of the design, and not just because I am a bleacher bum (Section 137). It definitely establishes a distinct neighborhood for the bleacher creatures in left. The triangle or "A" shape is playful. It's also divided into upper and lower sections. This may allow for the creation of a lower reserved section and an upper general admission section. The height of the first row may be only one-half the height of the same row in the Coliseum's bleachers.
• The Tower (Left-Center) - The most unique element is the introduction of either condos or a hotel (less novel, see Toronto) overlooking the field. Six levels of units, three abreast, comprise the tower, which rises over the triangle like a sentry. The piece de resistance is the roof deck, complete with seats overlooking the field and a pool with deck chairs. Condos would provide more upfront money to finance the ballpark, but they might yield less in tax revenue than a hotel.
  
• CF Building - Probably the most controversial part of the design, this building is adorned with several balconies and decks that hang over the field. Will they be in play? The idea isn't original, as it was built into Houston's Minute Maid Park in the form of "Crawford Boxes." In this incarnation, these look like party suites with decent sized seating decks attached. Above the two levels of party suites are more hotel rooms/condos. And yes, on the roof is another yet party deck, this time with a huge LED video board smack dab in the middle of it. It may sound like overkill on the party facilities, but it's actually smart. The facility will be flexible enough to hold gatherings of many different sizes. The decks could be split as needed, and there's potential for overflow seating as well. Lessons Wolff learned cutting his teeth in the hospitality industry can easily apply in this field as well. The southern end of the building (right-center) appears to hold a fountain, and a contemporary one at that.
• RF Grandstand - The outfield wall will be low, probably 3-4 feet at most. If this sounds familiar, it's because a similar approach has been used in sections of Dodger Stadium, Angels Stadium, and Fenway Park. Another element similar to Fenway will be the design of the right field corner, which angles out sharply past the pole before curving towards center. Another bullpen (yellow) will be in the corner, with opposing pitchers constantly surrounded by fans. In light of the Craig and Jennifer Bueno/Frank Francisco incident, this might not be the smartest thing to do, but if the intent is to intimidate the visiting team, this will go a long way towards that. The foul pole is a dead-on copy of Fenway's Pesky's Pole. Gary Sheffield will be retired by the time it's built, so he won't have anything to worry about. There's a third seating deck just below the lights, too.
• The Outfield - There's some question about the height of the batter's eye, but it's probably right, and if it isn't it could be modified pretty easily. Other than the right field corner, there are no odd angles, and none of it appears to be visual affectation, which is refreshing. The biggest concern is the dimensions of the field, which were not disclosed. Hopefully the VDC learned something from their visits to some of the newer National League parks: Don't build a bandbox. Cincinnati and Philadelphia are going to have problems acquiring top-level pitching because of the pitifully shallow dimensions designed into their new ballparks. If anything, the outfield should be deeper than neutral to offset the diminished foul territory (compared to the Coliseum). Atlanta has kept itself competitive in large part due to Turner Field's enormous outfield.

Overall, I'm mostly pleased with the design. It's borderline overbuilt due to amount of adornment in the outfield, but none of it is gimmicky and most of it serves an actual purpose. It should make for a nice backdrop, though it's unfortunate that the outfield elements will block the view of the Oakland hills over which many Coliseum fans still reminisce. The façade is open and minimalist, though it could do without the now cliché brick. The design is certain to change as different stakeholders provide input. As more details come out, I'll continue to provide reviews.

One more bit to chew on for the conspiracy theorists: There is nothing about this ballpark that is site-specific.

Media reports

The reports are starting to file in. Here is the first batch:

• KGO-7 report (new with video, 4:30 PM)
  
• KRON-4 report (with photos)
• CBS-5 (KPIX) report (with video)
• Contra Costa Times (with photo)
• SF Chronicle/Glenn Dickey (with large photos, expanded article including feedback from affected businesses - 10:30 PM)
• NBC-11 video

Also, a larger picture:


Now that it's bigger, it can clear up some confusion on my part.
The red-purple oval on the left is a large plaza with a fountain in the middle of it. Coliseum Way runs through the plaza and becomes a frontage road along 880.

• In the upper-right is what looks like a BART platform and supporting structures (stairs, escalators).
• It could either be a street or a pedestrian mall on the north end, leading from the BART platform west. A piazza of sorts is between the street/pedestrian mall and the red oval.
• The green building just outside the third base grandstand looks like a public building - perhaps a museum or community center.
  

Morning update

NBC-11's website front page has a slightly larger than thumbnail sketch of a ballpark plan:



Video is now available on the site.

There's also a new press release from the team:

"On behalf of the Oakland Athletics ownership group, I have proposed a concept and a site to the Joint Powers Authority (JPA) and the City of Oakland that we believe has tremendous potential for the development of a baseball-only facility for the A's in Oakland. It is our hope to create more than just a ballpark, but one of the next major urban centers in the Bay Area that will greatly add to the economic base and the community image of the city we have called home for the last 38 years.

"A visionary leadership from all parties associated with this project who believe the A's are a community asset is required to help us reach our objective in creating one of the most exciting venues in all of sports, one that will have a positive and lasting impact on the City of Oakland for years to come.

"Our ownership group is willing to incur the vast majority of costs associated with this project; however, to create the major urban development we envision is virtually impossible without some sort of public and governmental support. If public and private forces can be channeled to see this project to fruition, it is our belief the economic benefits to the City of Oakland will far outweigh the public assistance sought.

"We look forward to closely working with the JPA and the City of Oakland in a diligent and expedient manner to further examine the feasibility of this proposal."

Some observations:

• The site appears to be much more expansive than just the Drive-In/Swap Meet.
• The ballpark itself is situated just north of 66th Ave, on the southeast section of the site.
• The field is oriented northeast, similar to the current Coliseum, with the outfield running near the Union Pacific/Amtrak railroad tracks.
• Parking is on the other side of the tracks, with a series of bridges (pedestrian only?) providing access over the tracks.
• High-rise structures (probably the condos) are located in left and left-center.
• Small retail buildings line 66th Ave.
• Either a shopping center or big-box retailers have been placed to the west, along Coliseum Way.
• The street grid is completely changed north of 66th Ave.
• What looks to be a new street runs east-west through the complex. It may be an extension of the existing Seminary Ave., which currently ends at San Leandro St. That would make sense, because it would provide a direct route from I-580.
  

CoCo Times: A preview of the Friday meeting

More details are leaking out about the nature of the presentation that Wolff will give to the JPA tomorrow.

The project would reportedly involve up to 90 acres of industrial land between 66th Avenue and High Street, and will be pitched as one requiring no up-front investment of public funds from a community still reeling from sour deals with professional sports teams, including the disastrous 1995 pact that returned the Raiders to Oakland.

and...

These officials say they have not been told about project costs or other specifics related to Wolff's plan, including the exact site eyed for a ballpark. One official said it is assumed the project would include the former drive-in property, because it consists of about 20 acres of open land and is only blocks down Coliseum Way from the existing stadium.

It'll be interesting to see how expansive the plan really is. If it ends up being 90 acres, then it would come all the way down from the Drive-In/Swap Meet to 66th Ave. The bigger the size of the project, the greater the possibilities. There's certainly an opportunity for the creation of an "Athletics Village" or "A's Town" (someone else has already copyrighted the term "Athletics Nation") with the ballpark as the anchor for a large swath of development. Could it cause an influx of A's fans moving into the area, with residents eating, sleeping, and living baseball all year long? Statues of Billy Beane, Sandy Alderson, Wally Haas, Dave Stewart, and Rickey Henderson lining the streets? A Ricky's location just outside the ballpark? Bruce Bochte running a marine educational center/museum down the street? MC Hammer preaching at a church inside the village? Well, maybe not. It certainly would be a bold step, and if successful, would go a long way towards countering that California and Bay Area fans are fairweather or bandwagonesque.

It's good for A's fans to dream and hope about such things, but those hopes should be tempered with the fact that big urban renewal projects often have to get scaled back for any number of reasons: investor willingness, feasibility, government cooperation.

Trib: Details, please

In an editorial, the Trib implores Wolff to publicize the ballpark plans and stop teasing everyone with little details:

If Wolff has something specific in mind, this would be a good time to throw out the old trial balloon. The A's are the hottest team in baseball right now and could be in first place by this weekend after dwelling near the cellar a good part of the early season. Fans are streaming to the stadium, bringing with them converts from the other side of the Bay who could be hooked for good by a combination of consistent winning ball and the promise of a cozy ballpark.

While putting out information while the team is winning is no guarantee of widespread approval, it can't hurt. It's hard to conceive of a situation that's better suited, especially with the Giants' current plight.