FanPost

Green Grass: Where Does Our Yellow Brick Road End? Part III

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Part 3's of the Holy Trilogy always have the coolest names. Revenge of the Coliseum? Return of the Coliseum? Remain at the Coliseum?

"But why?" the chorus heckles.

I think many folks hear the idea of the A's staying in the Coliseum Parking Lot and feel a bit underwhelmed. I completely understand this and I am sympathetic to it AND am on record all over the Internet saying "I prefer they take a little longer and move Downtown if they can make that work."

But, why would the A's prefer this scenario as they have stated publicly for about two years?

From a "transformational" potential, I think everyone agrees that something closer to Downtown is probably a safer bet. From a "GET SH*T DONE!" perspective, the Coliseum is easily the path of least resistance... maybe.

This is going to be a lot more cut and dry than the Laney College or Howard Terminal pieces I wrote.

First, I am going to list the advantages and disadvantages in a non partisan fashion. Then, I am going to tell you what I have heard as one potential plan. I should stress... I can't verify that this is THE plan, just something I have heard as a potential plan that isn't so horrible. I also tend to believe that it is the plan when you read between the lines of the Fortress/Raiders stories lately (that is just my opinion).

Advantages:

Completed EIR

More than 100 Acres of developable space, easily the largest plot of land for ancillary development in Oakland.

Infrastructure financing approved by the City.

The most transit friendly site of any under consideration with BART, Amtrak, and two off ramps from one of America's busiest freeways dedicated to the site.

In theory, they could start building tomorrow.

Disadvantages:

There is no there, there.

Mark Davis seems incapable of completing any kind of deal to get a stadium for the Raiders, which keeps the site in limbo.

I don't know that anyone really needs to me to go on and on about any of the above stuff. We all, or a good portion of us, spend plenty of time here from April to October and have been doing it for decades (parts of 5 decades for me, 1975-2016, parts of 6 for some). It's been home since 1968!

So, in summary... Access, development potential, EIR complete... basically shovel ready if the Raiders choose to leave (not exactly, but closer than any other site by a lot). And Raiders fans, don't come at me with "You hate the Raiders!" I am a 49ers fan, but I don't want the Raiders to leave Oakland, or at worst the Bay Area. Recent proof:

stay raiders

I want them to stay. If they can't stay in Oakland, I want them to play in Santa Clara, just like when the A's were talking about relocating to San Jose... I am fine with them moving around the region if it makes sense. I prefer they stay put first, but if my tax money is put to better use by them moving 35-40 miles down the freeway, they are still on my local radio station and I can still follow them in my local media, that's awesome. I mean, what football fan doesn't relish hearing Greg Papa call a football game? A dumb one, that's who.

That said, we have to look at this in a vacuum for the time being. I think it is absolutely likely that if the Raiders stay put, then the Coliseum is not going to be where the A's play in the long term. So, really, this exercise is meaningless from an A's fan perspective if Ronnie Lott pulls off what seems improbable and gets the Raiders on board at the Coliseum. But for the sake of argument, let's assume he fails and the Coliseum becomes what the A's want it to be.

Now what is it that could be built there? A picture:

Downtown Disney

That yellow line runs from the Disneyland Hotel to the plaza that separates Disneyland from Disney's California Adventure. It is about 1875 feet long. Another picture:

Oakland Coliseum

That yellow line runs from Coliseum BART to a spot that could be a plaza in between the Oracle Arena and a new baseball stadium. It is about 1875 feet long. It also ends precariously close to an easement.

One more picture (courtesy of newballpark.org):

Easements

In order for the Downtown Disney/Oakland Coliseum Mashup of 2019 to be a thing, the development will have to take into account the many easements that run through the parking lot. Here is what I have heard, though I cannot independently verify it.

There will be a hotel where the airport connector and BART and Amtrak converge. Between that transit hub and hotel and a spot approximately where the yellow line ends on picture of the Coliseum, there will be a shopping district. The other end will be anchored by the ballpark and a still functioning arena post Warriors.

Lot A, Lot D and part of Lot B will still be parking lots.

If the Coliseum remains THE site, expect something like the above to appear over a 5-10 year period. The Ballpark would arrive in 3-5 years, the surrounding stuff over the longer period. While we can all agree it wouldn't do much to improve things in Downtown, JLS or Uptown... It would certainly be a game changer for a part of Oakland that could really use some game changing stuff. (And it could also happen with the Raiders taking the place of the A's)