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Oakland: New investor on board for Coliseum City [Contra Costa Times](Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 18--OAKLAND -- A new investor has agreed to take the lead on Oakland's Coliseum City project, offering fresh hope for at least a new Raiders football stadium and additional development at the site of O.co Coliseum. Sources refused to disclose the investor's name, saying he would not come forward until the City Council agrees to extend an exclusive negotiating rights deal with a development team that has been drawing up redevelopment plans for the Coliseum site and seeking investors for over a year. The development team's agreement expires Tuesday, the same day that City Council members, a few of whom were introduced to the new investor earlier this month, are scheduled to discuss an extension in a closed-door meeting. Attorney Zack Wasserman, who represents the development team, said the investor would join the team and that he has already had a lot of discussions with the Raiders about a new stadium but none so far with the Oakland A's. The city has struggled for more than two years to find anyone willing to put money into its vision of redeveloping of the 120-acre Coliseum site and hundreds of surrounding acres in East Oakland into a sports and entertainment hub with a hotel, homes and nearby technology campuses. Optimism ran high nearly a year ago when real estate titan Colony Capital and Dubai-based businessman Rashid Al Malik joined the development team, but they failed to meet several city-imposed deadlines or get the Raiders to sign a letter of interest in the deal. Colony Capital would remain part of the development team, but the new investor would be in control, sources said. There are still many hurdles to building sports stadiums at the Coliseum site. A new Raiders stadium faces an estimated $600 million funding shortfall, public debt on the land itself exceeds $106 million from prior renovations to O.co Coliseum, and tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements would be required to transform sprawling parking lots at the site into a more densely developed entertainment hub. Also, A's co-owner Lew Wolff has expressed doubts about Coliseum City and said that if his team is to consider building a new ballpark at the Coliseum site it would want to control the development project. Wolff said in an email Friday that he had not been informed about the new investor. An extension of the development team's contract with a new investor on board would be seen as a victory Mayor Jean Quan, who has championed the project. "I've always been confident that we could make a deal," she said. "And I look forward to an announcement when it is finished." Contact Matthew Artz at 510-208-6435. ___ (c)2014 the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.) Visit the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.) at www.contracostatimes.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |