OAKLAND — Five days after the City Council voted to resume negotiating with the Oakland A’s over each party’s financial obligations in producing a $12 billion waterfront ballpark and village at Howard Terminal, team officials have not yet indicated whether they intend to participate. It’s a big decision, but not the only thing that needs to happen to keep the team in Oakland.
A’s President Dave Kaval said after Tuesday’s council meeting the team needs to vet Oakland’s latest proposal before deciding whether to return to the negotiating table or just focus on finding a new home, such as leading contender Las Vegas.
When the A’s issued their “term sheet” in April laying out what kind of financial help they expect from the city, Kaval delivered the now-infamous ultimatum “Howard Terminal or Bust,” essentially telling Oakland to accept the team’s terms or else. Instead, the city decided to meet the A’s somewhere in the middle.
Besides the $1 billion ballpark, the A’s plan to build as many as 3,000 residential units, 1.5 million square feet of office space, 270,000 square feet of mixed retail, a 3,500-seat performance theater, 400 hotel rooms and about 18 acres of parks and open space at the 55-acre Howard Terminal site, which is part of the Port of Oakland. All that lucrative development, presumably, helps the A’s pay for the park.
Depending on what the A’s decide, here are some answers to what can happen next:
Q. What happens if the A’s reject Oakland’s terms and say they’re done negotiating?
A. Negotiations can’t resume if the A’s don’t want to be there. The A’s refusal to continue talking would essentially shelve their project — unless the city caves, which seems unlikely.
Q. If the A’s agree to negotiate, what needs to be ironed out to reach a deal?
A. Several things, starting with the A’s insistence that the city form two tax districts to pay for capital improvements needed to prepare Howard Terminal for the planned development and to provide better access to the site.
The more controversial of those districts would extend far from the park, encompassing a 1 1/2-mile swath including Jack London Square to finance the off-site streets, sidewalks, pedestrian bridges and other work intended to make it easier for A’s fans to cross railroad tracks to get to the ballpark. The A’s are counting on $352 million from that district for the work.
But instead of forming that district and — in essence — forcing local taxpayers to foot the bill, council President Rebecca Kaplan came up with an alternative scheme — namely, the city will seek state and federal transportation dollars to pay for the work.
The City Council supported that move and tried to assure the A’s they would be off the hook for the $352 million. The A’s haven’t said whether the guarantee is enough.
Q. What are some of the other sticking points?
A. Affordable housing is one. Oakland requires developers to designate a percentage of their projects for affordable housing. In a term sheet released July 16, the city said 15% of the proposed 3,000 units should be affordable and the team should pay impact fees to produce the equivalent of 20% affordable units elsewhere.
The A’s have asked for a waiver from that requirement, arguing the city could use project-generated property tax revenue to pay for affordable housing.
The city also wants the A’s to shell out millions of dollars for relocation and other services for people and businesses facing displacement from the ballpark/village development, job training, workforce development and local hiring for project-related jobs.
As with affordable housing, the A’s say Oakland can pay for that too with property tax revenue.
The Howard Terminal site and the proposed A’s ballpark are shown in a rendering supplied by the Oakland A’s. (Courtesy of Oakland A’s)
Q. If those sticking points are resolved and a deal is struck, can the ballpark work begin?
A. Not quite. The City Council still must approve a final environmental impact report for the whole development, possibly by the end of this year, as well as city general plan amendments and rezoning.
Q. Are there any wild cards out there that can still hold up everything or kill the deal?
A. Yes. Alameda County can throw a wrench into the deal. That’s because the city has agreed to form one of the tax assessment districts the A’s called for — specifically to pay for the sidewalks, streets, soil cleanup, seismic safety and other work that must be done at the Howard Terminal site.
Some of the taxes from that district would typically go to the county. It is estimated that the county would be giving up $11 million annually in new taxes for the infrastructure work. But the A’s argue that without the ballpark development, those new taxes wouldn’t exist, so the county is giving up nothing. In fact, they estimate, the county will come out $6 million ahead each year.
Still, the Board of Supervisors balked at the A’s plan during its meeting last month, delaying a decision until September. If the county decides to insist on a larger share of the taxes, the city must either make up the difference or hope the A’s agree to do so.
Q: If the county buys in and the deal is on, what other approvals are needed before dirt can be turned over?
A: If the city approves an EIR, the Port of Oakland must sign off on a master lease with the A’s and certify that the Howard Terminal development is compatible with seaport activities.
Q. How soon must a deal be reached before the A’s get impatient again?
A. The A’s want a deal in hand by the end of this baseball season, which officially culminates with the World Series in late October. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said last week the city would work hard to meet that deadline.
Q: If everything is set, when can we see the A’s playing in their new ballpark?
A: It’s unclear when actual construction of a ballpark would begin, but because the A’s lease at the Coliseum expires in 2024, the aim is to have the ballpark ready for action that season.
Q: When would construction of the houses, offices, hotels and the rest of the Howard Terminal project happen?
A: Not until the ballpark is pretty much done. At this point, there’s no exact timeline for which buildings would go up first, but the entire development is expected to take 10-15 years to complete.
OAKLAND, CA – JULY 18: Oakland Athletics and Cleveland Indians players line up during the playing of the national anthem before their game at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, July 18, 2021. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Q. What happens to the Oakland Coliseum site?
A. That’s what the city is trying to figure out. Alameda County sold its half of the site to the A’s in 2019 for $85 million, but the city still owns the other half.
On Tuesday, the City Council authorized city administrators to begin negotiating with two of the development groups that had expressed interest in buying the city’s half of the site.
One group is led by former A’s pitcher Dave Stewart and Lonnie Murray, a certified player agent and owner of Sports Management Partners.
The other group, the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, is led by Oakland businessman and consultant Ray Bobbitt, former city manager Robert Bobb, developer Alan Dones and sports agent Bill Duffy.
Either group likely would have to negotiate to develop the site along with the A’s or buy the team’s share of the site.
