Oakland Reportedly In Talks To Level Coliseum In 2015
OAKLAND (CBS SF) - The A's have been in turbulent talks for weeks with Oakland and Alameda County officials over a new 10-year-lease at the aging O.Co Coliseum, but that may be moot if the team behind a possible new Raiders stadium can push through a plan to tear down the Coliseum and get a new NFL venue built in half that time.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that word of the proposal was leaked in a memo by the attorney for planners to Mayor Jean Quan, the Oakland City Council and City Administrator Henry Gardner.
"We believe that we will have an agreed upon term sheet with the Raiders making the Raiders the anchor of a new multi-use football stadium on the Coliseum Site by the end of the summer," wrote attorney Zachary Wasserman in the July 2 memo. "It is the Raiders desire and plan to play in a new facility in Oakland for the 2018 football season. They are making arrangements to play elsewhere for the intervening time. It will be critical to demolish the existing stadium in 2015."
The Coliseum City plan would include a hotel, offices and housing on the current stadium site, along with a new stadium for the Raiders and a retail center. Wasserman said the city has already spent three years and $4 million to adopt a plan and an EIR on the project, which is currently without a developer.
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The chairman of the Coliseum Joint Powers Authority said the timeline was "totally preposterous," noting that about $180 million is still owed on the existing stadium.
The two-year teardown plan would also throw the future home of the A's into serious question. The current lease proposal for the A's calls for a two-year warning before any construction could take place on the Coliseum, meaning that, if approved, the current lease agreement would already cause delays for the Raiders stadium proposal.
As Oakland A's Lease Deal Lingers, Raiders Stadium Developer Wants To Tear Down Coliseum
Get more on this story from The Chronicle.
