Oakland's billion-dollar Coliseum City plan is ready for a big score
An agreement between Oakland and Alameda County that could pave the way for the massive Coliseum City development — including new stadiums for the Oakland Raiders and Oakland Athletics — will come before city and county leaders over the next few days.
Oakland City Council members are set to vote in a special session late Friday morning on a new exclusive negotiating agreement between the city, county and New City Development LLC, the group led by Floyd Kephart that is trying to pull together the project. The county could vote on the deal either Friday or Tuesday.
Bringing the city and county together on the exclusive negotiating agreement, or ENA, would be a major step forward in the $1.5 billion, 200-acre first phase of the Coliseum City project. It would mark the first time the city and county have addressed their joint ownership of the land that holds O.co Coliseum, the home of the Raiders and A's, and the Golden State Warriors' Oracle Arena.
New City in October won an ENA with the city, which expires April 21. But Kephart said his team — and the Raiders — has been hamstrung on development and financing plans for a 55,000-seat Raiders stadium without the county's involvement in land discussions for the new project.
"The No. 1 condition from the Raiders to stay is, 'Tell us how to deal with the land,'" Kephart said.
The new ENA continues to allow the Raiders and A's the option of bypassing New City and submitting their own stadium plans.
The soonest a new stadium could host the National Football League Raiders, who have made rumblings about moving to the Los Angeles area or San Antonio but
recently signed a one-year Coliseum lease, would be the 2019 season, Kephart said. That assumes final approval of plans and permits next summer and a 32-month build-out.
"Everyone believes this could be done by 2019, if we just function," said Kephart, who last month
was critical of the county's work toward bringing an ENA to a vote.
A three-way ENA also could unlock other parts of the Coliseum City plan, such as the development of nearly 5,800 housing units, office and retail space, infrastructure to support stadiums and larger, 800-acre project, and upgrades to BART's Coliseum station.
The new ENA expires Aug. 21, but New City must present "broad strokes" financing and site plans by June 21, Kephart said.
New City also must detail the public and private participants in the development and how the plan actually is funded.
At that point, it's put-up-or-shut-up time for New City and Kephart, who since October has said lining up money for Coliseum City and, specifically, a new Raiders stadium isn't the most vexing issue.
"We've always had that," Kephart said about the availability of money. "That's not my issue here. That's not my issue today. That's not my issue tomorrow. That's not my issue next week."
In addition to funds Kephart can access, Raiders principal owner Mark Davis has said that the team would put as much as $400 million in a new stadium.
The city and county will have 15 business days to approve or reject each plan that New City submits along the ENA path.
"It's a real agreement for performance," Kephart said.
The city, county or New City also can terminate the ENA at any time, Kephart said.
New City would have to find a way of dealing with the $100 million-plus debt remaining from the renovation of the Coliseum in the early 1990s, which wooed the Raiders back to Oakland from Los Angeles. "We have no thoughts on how that gets paid," Kephart said.
Raiders officials weren't immediately available to comment for this story, and phone calls to the offices of Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Scott Haggerty and Supervisor Nate Miley, who has proposed a half-billion renovation of the current Coliseum structure, weren't returned.
The new ENA shows the city and county are "committed to getting this done," Kephart said, specifically calling out the work of Haggerty, Oakland City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Councilman Larry Reid.
Baseball's A's have nine years remaining on a 10-year lease signed last summer. The Warriors, meanwhile, have said they are committed to building a new arena in San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood that will be ready for the tip off of the 2018-19 National Basketball Association season.
