Wednesday, December 3, 2008

"A" Smart Switch

About a year ago when I heard that the A's were thinking about moving down to Hayward and far away from the BART station I thought they were crazy. Like location efficient housing where transportation was more expensive, they were just making their lives harder and profits smaller by deciding to locate so far away from the station. In fact they would have had to spend money on buses to bring people from the other side of the freeway to the stadium, or make their fans pay yet another fee to avoid the traffic.

Yet today they got a little smarter. I said a little because they were just talking about it instead of just doing it. Perhaps they were waiting for BART to San Jose to pass but this would really be a win win for everyone except of course the namesake of Oakland who loses the A's. As reported by SF Chron:
Here's a possible game changer - the Oakland A's will sit down this week with BART officials to discuss moving the team's proposed Fremont ballpark to within walking distance of the planned Warm Springs BART station.
...
Even Fremont Mayor and ballpark booster Bob Wasserman says he and his City Council colleagues "definitely" have to look at the idea, now that the tanking economy has forced the A's to put the rest of their "ballpark village" plan for 3,000 apartment and townhouses on ice.
Personally I think they should build the stadium on Broadway in Oakland along Auto Row. That whole area is just an explosion of redevelopment waiting to happen. Too many cars and too many parking lots on prime real estate. Anyone have money they can lend my development firm that doesn't exist yet???

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I wanted to see them stay in Oakland and move to that downtown site but now that downtown site has been redeveloped. I never really liked the site but maybe the Coliseum parking lot is the best bet now. I know it was ruled out a few years ago because their "ballpark village" wouldnt fit there.

As for the Fremont sites, this site makes so much more sense. I-880 is a complete nightmare and making a baseball stadium in the bay area un-transit accessible is idiotic. nevermind that there will be no demand in todays market for the supporting residential neighborhood that was planned to surround the ballpark and was to fund the ballpark. With the lack of BART access, 880 traffic and dead condo market the "ballpark village" was doomed to a spectacular failure. The old urban themed ballpark village planted in the middle of dotcom office parks was a pretty kooky idea even in a good housing market.

I'm surprised they havent just thrown in the towel and moved to a city that will build them their very own ballpark at no cost to the team.