The Oakland City Council will be meeting today at noon to decide if Howard Terminal should be on the ballot this November. If the measure passes, voters can decide if public funds should be used to pay for public infrastructure costs related to the project. The meeting comes days after the project passed a critical vote to allow the port land to be used for non-port-related development.
Oakland’s Design Review Committee is scheduled to review plans for Howard Terminal tomorrow, the proposed $12 billion waterfront ballpark district for the Oakland A’s. The meeting will be held in the shadow of great uncertainty as the baseball team remains silent on if it is still committed to the project. Delays and the risk that the baseball stadium would not be ready in time have led the team to tease a move to Las Vegas.
The Oakland City Council voted to approve a financial term sheet for Howard Terminal, a mixed-use development with housing, offices, and a new baseball stadium proposed by the Oakland A’s with an estimated $12 billion price tag. However, A’s president David Kaval has repeatedly signaled that yesterday’s approval could spell the end of the team’s future in Oakland because the term sheet approved is not what the team wanted. While Mayor Libby Schaaf is hopeful about the project’s future, Kaval was noncommittal about if the team would continue to negotiate. As it stands, the development is proceeding on thin ice.
Recently published documents by the City of Oakland show that the Oakland Waterfront Ballpark District project could see two 600-foot towers beside the 35,000-person ballpark. If fabricated today, they would be the tallest skyscrapers in California outside of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Hines’ 622-foot proposal for Oakland at 415 20th Street is the only proposal that would be taller. The Oakland A’s are the project developer and sponsor, operating through the Oakland Athletics Investment Group LLC.
New A’s stadium at Oakland’s Howard Terminal clears Senate and now progresses toward reality. Assemblyman Rob Bontas (D-Oakland) AB 1191 passed the Senate 34-0. The proposal includes a new ballpark to be built at the Howard Terminal in Jack London Square in Oakland.