Deep pocketed investors sign up for Coliseum City

[RF34]

By Matthew Artz Oakland Tribune
Posted: 09/30/2013 08:00:00 PM PDT | Updated: about 8 hours ago

OAKLAND -- A well-connected Dubai financier and the world's third-largest privately held real estate firm are teaming up to invest in Coliseum City, providing a significant shot-in-the-arm to Oakland's effort to redevelop the sprawling Coliseum complex into a sports and entertainment center.

The investment group is composed of Colony Capital LLC, which manages investments totaling $32 billion, and Rashid Al Malik, an investor who recently served as deputy CEO of a multibillion dollar aerospace firm founded by the uncle of Dubai's ruling sheik.

Operating under the banner Bay Investment Group, LLC, Al Malik and Colony are slated to join Oakland's master-planning team for the Coliseum complex and help fund a new stadium feasibility study.



More importantly, they also want to take the lead in redeveloping the Coliseum complex, which is surrounded by parking lots and cut off from surrounding neighborhoods and city life.

"We are very enthusiastic about the opportunity to work in partnership with the City of Oakland (and) Rashid Al Malik ... to develop this unique property, which we expect will become a transformational and vital urban, residential sports and entertainment center for this city," Colony CEO Thomas J. Barrack, Jr. said in a prepared statement.

Mayor Jean Quan said she'd like to see a family-oriented venue that included a bowling alley, roller skating rink, shops, bars, homes and a high-end hotel.

"I'm thrilled," Quan said about the new investment team. "They are very successful and they have very deep pockets, so they can probably afford to do the project exactly how we would like it."

Coliseum City has long been dismissed as a pipe dream mainly because it envisioned privately-financed new homes for all three of Oakland's sports teams, even the Golden State Warriors, which have proposed building a new home in San Francisco, and the Oakland A's, which still pine for San Jose. It also calls for the development of a technology district near the Oakland International Airport.

While the master plan, which covers 800 acres on both sides of Interstate 880, would accommodate facilities for all three teams, officials said the final project could still be viable with only one or two new stadiums. The most likely sports partner would be the Oakland Raiders.

Al Malik's firmm, HayaH Holding, and Colony have both shown interest in similar types of projects. They recently joined forces in a failed bid to purchase AEG, a major entertainment venue owner and operator that developed LA Live, the sports and entertainment center anchored by the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.

Colony has already been active in the sports and leisure market. It owns Miramax Films, the Fairmont chain of hotels and previously owned the Paris Saint-Germain soccer team.

The firm's involvement in particular makes the East Oakland development appear more plausible, said Robert Boland, the academic chair of sports business at New York University's Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports.

"When you think of Colony Capital and its hotel properties, its casino properties and its entertainment investments, this kind of project would have some resonance," he said.

The upcoming study will delve deeper into the market for a new Raiders stadium at the Coliseum site. Raiders owner Mark Davis and a private consultant hired by the city have both said recently that the local market would only support a roughly 58,000-seat stadium at the Coliseum site.

There are concerns among Oakland's planning team that such a facility, which would be the NFL's smallest, wouldn't attract major events like a Super Bowl or successfully anchor an entertainment district.

"Our team feels that the market can support something bigger than that," said Ed McFarlan, a principal of JRDV Architects, which is among several firms working on the project's master plan. "If we're going to privately finance a stadium, it needs to be a multipurpose entertainment venue."

Oakland has earmarked $3.2 million in preliminary work for Coliseum City, including funds for site planning and environmental studies that will both lay out the grand vision for the project and consider fallback options should the sports facilities not materialize.

The City Council still must approve the new investors coming on board and also agree to extend the planning team's exclusive negotiating agreement, which expires later this month.

The council is scheduled to discuss the project in private on Tuesday. A public discussion on extending the negotiating period and bringing aboard the new investors is scheduled for Oct. 8.

[raidertone]

Interesting....believe it when I see it.

[Tenebrous]

Isn't NorCal supposed to be green with all the environmental BS - not to mention have ridiculously high taxes & unnecessary laws because successful people need to 'pay their fair share'?! The hypocrisy/stupidity of the left never ceases to amaze - so, NorCal will accept foreign oil money to keep a stadium?!! Lmao - better to support American businessmen (and not evil oil, lol) and leave Oakland.

[790thSFS]

Norcal is where all the money is. We got Facebook, Yahoo, HP, etc. I hate crowed ass LA. Its cool and all, but too many fucking people and broke ass from what I saw unless they work in Hollywood. But building a new Coliseum will bring lots of jobs with good pay. Our construction cost are way more than anywhere else in the country. Either way, the current location sucks ass, I hate going there even though I live about 50 mins away.

[RF34]

Oakland's Coliseum City project could cost $2 billion

Oakland's Coliseum City project could cost $2 billion over a multiyear build out, said Fred Blackwell, Oakland's assistant city administrator.

Locking in a pair of new investors will ensure the $2 billion Coliseum City project — potentially the largest transit-oriented development in California — could become a reality, Oakland city officials said.

Fred Blackwell, Oakland’s assistant city administrator, said the development team and the city have numerous details to continue working out for the prospective redevelopment, which covers 800 acres surrounding the Oakland Coliseum Complex.

As first reported by the Oakland Tribune,Bay Investment Group LLC, an entity being formed by ColonyCapital LLC and Rashid Al Malik, chairman and CEO of HayaH Holdings, is interested in joining a development team that has an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city and includes JRDV Urban International, HKS Architects, and Forest City Real Estate Services. See our previous story here.

“We have a deep pocketed and connected capital partner,” Blackwell said. “Because of a combination of their interest in sports and entertainment, they are interested in Coliseum City. The fact that they have the time and resources to give it a go, has us all really excited.”

The project currently envisions redeveloping up to 14 million square feet of commercial, retail and office space, adding 6,000 residential units and as many as three new sports stadiums that could cost somewhere close to $2 billion over a minimum of ten years and multiple phases. Just building one stadium can cost $1 billion, Blackwell said, while infrastructure such as new roads and sidewalks comes with a $150 million pricetag.

Blackwell said who would pay for what still has to be negotiated.

City officials anticipate the city council will approve the addition of the investors to the development team and extend the negotiating agreement for another year. At the same time the negotiating agreement is going on, the city is also pushing forward an environmental impact report and a planning document known as a specific plan that would establish the development guidelines for Coliseum City.

Blackwell said the city hopes to work out a development and disposition agreement, which would give the developers the rights to start building on city-owned or city-controlled parcels.

In an ideal situation, the plans and agreements could be finalized by mid-2014, which means construction could start construction by the end of 2014.

Ed McFarlan, principal at JRDV, said the project is complex and ambitious, which means it will only materialize if the city establishes and an all-encompassing vision.

“Coliseum City is a large project that will be built over a long period of time. Today you don’t build ball parks in the middle of nowhere. You build them in the middle of an urban setting,” McFarlan said. “The goal is to have a sustainable, authentic urban place so that when the sports are not happening, it does not go dark. It’s still a great place to live.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco ... llion.html

[raidertone]

So does this mean that the Raiders will have to sign off on another lease extension, since the current lease agreement expires at seasons end, without knowing for sure if a stadium deal can be finalized?

The article states "In an ideal situation, the plans and agreements could be finalized by mid-2014". That's if everything moves along quickly and smoothly, can't see it coming together that fast.

[Tenebrous]

Norcal is where all the money is. We got Facebook, Yahoo, HP, etc. I hate crowed ass LA. Its cool and all, but too many fucking people and broke ass from what I saw unless they work in Hollywood. But building a new Coliseum will bring lots of jobs with good pay. Our construction cost are way more than anywhere else in the country. Either way, the current location sucks ass, I hate going there even though I live about 50 mins away.

Yeah, there's no money in SoCal - oh wait, Hollywood, as you already noted, is in SoCal and they make a chunk of change. Lol, so NorCal has no poverty issues - poverty is everywhere in Cali thanks to ridiculous liberal policies. The Raiders need their own stadium, no baseball dirt, no baseball scheduling issues and fans, etc. So, I guess, we agree the Raiders need a new stadium somewhere, but NorCal taking foreign oil money even as their environmental policies work against American oil (and other) companies stinks of hypocrisy.

[RF34]

Rumor: Raiders stadium project to start September ’14?

http://cover32.com/raiders/2013/10/14/o ... y-stadium/

[RF34]

Oakland Coliseum City planning gets go ahead from city council

A major step in the efforts to keep the Raiders in Oakland occurred Tuesday evening. The city council voted yes to the proposal by the Bay Investment Group to extend the planning period for the Coliseum City development project.

The planning period extension period was important because the project has gained two big investors in recent months which changes brings the $2 billion dollar project closer to a reality.

The previous proposal which had plans drawn up over the past year would have required public subsidy which was a big sticking point because there isn't a lot of public funds available for such an ambitious project and the taxpayers are hesitant to foot the bill.

The Raiders are a key tenant in the project but Bay Investment Group will be asking for all three sports teams to sign a letter saying they are on board by as late as April. This would allow an additional six months to tailor plans according to whether they will be including facilities for the Raiders, A's, and Warriors or just one or two of those franchises.

There is an outside chance they could receive no opt-in letter from any of the teams as all three have shown some interest in moving elsewhere in recent years. The extension could backfire in that regard because they have extra time to work out their respective playing destinations. But the yes vote had to happen to give the best and perhaps only chance of the Raiders and/or the Warriors and A's to remain in Oakland so it is still a monumental step in the efforts.

Raiders super fan Dr Death was on hand to deliver a speech to convince the city council to vote yes on the proposal. Here is video of that speech.