Oakland officials identify four sites for new A’s Stadium

From the SF Business Journal--

OAKLAND--In the ongoing saga of trying to keep the A’s baseball team in Oakland, city officials have identified four sites, two of which had not been considered previously, that could accommodate a new stadium for the team.

The sites include the current Oakland Coliseum location and three sites near the Jack London Square waterfront: Howard Terminal in the Port of Oakland, another parcel at Jefferson and Market and a site called Victory Court between Oak Street and the Lake Merritt Channel.The last two are the new sites under consideration.


“We went to the MLB and said ‘We want the As in Oakland,’ and we’re comfortable with all of these sites,” said Eric Angstadt, director of planning for the city’s Community and Economic Development Agency.

City leaders have been working since March to find ways to keep the As in Oakland and sent a letter to Major League Baseball. A few weeks later, the league then created a three-member task force to revisit the team’s options to stay in Oakland. The league laid out criteria for a new site, including a size of at least 20 acres and proximity to amenities such as transportation and restaurants. Angstadt said the city added two new waterfront locations because most new baseball stadiums built in the last several years have been near waterfronts.

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, City Council President Jane Brunner, Vice Mayor Ignacio De La Fuente, Councilmember Larry Reid of District 7, Angstadt, Victoria Jones of Clorox and Douglas Boxer of Let’s Go Oakland, a non-profit, held a joint press conference Thursday to announced the sites.

Dellums said the city’s goal is to inform the team leadership and the MLB that there are viable sites for a new stadium in Oakland. The city, which faces a major budget deficit, cannot pay for the stadium, but would agree to support the effort with land, infrastructure and parking. Dellums emphasized that the process has not been a negotiation with MLB, but rather a "fact-finding mission."

"Right now baseball is the one controlling the timeline," Angstadt said. "We've done what we can at this point."

The announcement comes at a time when the team’s head representative, Lew Wolff has stated he wants the team to move to San Jose and that the team has already considered and rejected any options to stay in Oakland.

“Lew Wolff said he did due diligence in Oakland and found no sites and we have proved him wrong,” Reid said.

The A’s, which said a new stadium will generate more money, have played in Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum since 1968. The baseball team shares the facility with the Oakland Raiders. The A’s lease in the coliseum expires in 2010 with three, one-year options to extend.

Reid said if the As were to leave the Coliseum, the Raiders would continue to use the facility. The football team has also proposed a building a new stadium.

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