Perhaps the Oakland A’s biggest battle in 2022 is happening outside the lines.
Before they lost to the Giants 6-4 Sunday for the finale of a quick two-game Bay Bridge Series at the Coliseum, A’s president Dave Kaval briefly spoke with 95.7 The Game to give an update on where things stand with the team’s efforts to build a new stadium at Howard Terminal in West Oakland.
Kaval said the A’s are stuck in something of a holding pattern until the City of Oakland can figure out how to fund off-site infrastructure for the project – things like grade separation, railroad safety and pedestrian safety updates that would be needed to get fans to the ballpark. Off-site infrastructure would occur outside of the 50-acre parcel of land the A's are targeting for a waterfront ballpark development.
“We’re waiting for the city to identify exactly how they’re gonna pay for their obligation to do the off-site infrastructure,” Kaval told 95.7 The Game. “It’s about $250 million they are looking for right now. They’re working both at the state, the federal level and also the regional level to come up with sources of capital.”
The project most recently cleared a hurdle in June, as the San Francisco Bay Area Conservation and Development Commission (SF BCDC) voted to remove the Port Priority Use (PPU) designation from Howard Terminal, clearing the way for potential future development at the site. While port workers recently filed a lawsuit to challenge the SF BCDC vote, Kaval said the main hang-up with the project has to do with the off-site infrastructure.
“We’ve negotiated a lot of the other terms,” Kaval said. “The community benefits have been kinda sorted out. It’s really coming down to this off-site infrastructure and the financial gap. Everything is around that and that’s gotta be solved in order to take a vote.”
Warriors owner Joe Lacob recently made headlines when he told the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea that he would have paid for the off-site infrastructure costs privately if he owned the A’s, even if it meant coughing up another $300 to $400 million. Kaval said the A’s have no intention of trying to raise funds privately for off-site infrastructure.
“It's just unprecedented to have a private developer or team invest in the off-site infrastructure," Kaval said. “The fact that we’re doing all the on-site – the on-site is $500 or $600 million. We’re handling all that, taking all the risk on that and we’re building a stadium out of our own pocket. The off-site piece – in almost every other one of these (local) deals, Treasure Island, Mission Bay, Hunter’s Point, everything, Pier 70 – those are the responsibilities of the public side. That was a really key understanding a year ago, when we decided to continue to move forward with negotiating, was that delineation. They were going to handle off-site and we were gonna handle on-site. It’s really kind of a threshold item. … At the end of the day, it is their thing. I can’t do it for them. We can be in a supporting role.”
Off-site infrastructure for the project is estimated to cost $352 million. Though the Howard Terminal development is touted as a $12 billion investment, financials on slideshows throughout the public process have shown the project buildout costing around $6 billion, including $5.78 billion of private capital, with $1 billion towards a privately-financed waterfront stadium. The development also includes public parks, residential and commercial high-rises, and a 3,500-seat performing arts center. Those plans could be altered if the project has to accommodate a turning basin for ships at the port. (NOTE: This image is from October 2021)
There are still a lot of moving parts in this ongoing negotiation. Until off-site infrastructure is figured out, no concrete development agreement can be presented to the Oakland City Council for a binding vote. In a non-binding vote in July, the City Council showed its support to continue to explore the project. Kaval said the imminent end of the election cycle – and the term of Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf – has created a natural deadline to get a City Council vote by November. Schaaf's term will end in January.
The city’s offer to pay for off-site infrastructure dates back to a meeting in July 2021.
“We’re getting concerned that that’s taking so long,” Kaval said. “Especially if it goes past Libby’s time in office. She’s terming out at the end of this year. That’s worrisome, because she’s been the largest supporter of this project. This is her location that she recommended to us. I just feel like we have a really narrow window here to pull it off. … Because then you’ll have a whole ’nother set of elected folk in there and she’ll be off to her next pursuit. She’s been a great steward of this project over this period of time, but we still don’t have a final, binding deal."
Kaval reiterated that the A’s are available to support the city in its efforts, but added the franchise believes the responsibility ultimately falls on Oakland.
“There’s a bunch of grants that have been written and we’ve underwritten for and paid for, the process and the staffing,” Kaval said. “But there’s still a gap. You can’t really take a vote yet until that is sorted out. A year ago, there was a vote, the city said ‘We’re responsible for the off-site, you guys handle the on-site.’ We kinda generally agreed to that framework, but we haven’t been able to understand from the city how that’s going to occur yet.”
[Correction: A previous edition of this story reported the off-site infrastructure would eventually be re-paid by collections from an Infrastructure Financing District. The A's proposed off-site IFD has been removed from the working agreement at the request of city officials, citing the large boundaries of tax-collection area.]
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