A's give up on FremontBy Matthew Artz
Fremont A’s boosters can put away their rally caps.
The team announced Tuesday that it has given up hope of coming to town in the face of staunch opposition from residents and several businesses.
“I have concluded that further consideration of the A’s relocating to Fremont must cease,” team co-owner Lew Wolff wrote in a letter sent to city officials Tuesday.
Wolff’s announcement had been expected since last week when he halted the environmental process needed to approve a future stadium either adjacent to the Pacific Commons shopping center west of Interstate 880, or between interstates 680 and 880 near the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant.
The A’s first targeted the Pacific Commons area south of Auto Mall Parkway for its $1.8 billion stadium and housing/commercial project, but ran into opposition from the center’s three largest retailers, which feared the ballpark would cause traffic and parking problems.
In December, the team turned its focus to a second site — about 1.5 miles to the southeast — adjacent to a planned BART station on the edge of the city’s Warm Springs district.
But that plan encountered stiff resistance from NUMMI, the city’s largest employer, as well as from nearby residents, who threatened to file lawsuits that would hold up stadium construction or put approval of the stadium to citywide vote.
That was part of Wolff’s concern.
The threat of “further delays, legal actions and perhaps referendums is simply something that I have decided to forgo,” Wolff wrote.
Wolff is still interested in one day building a nonstadium project in Fremont that would include 3,150 homes, along with stores, offices and an elementary school adjacent to Pacific Commons, he said Tuesday.
He wouldn’t comment on whether the A’s might reconsider Fremont as a future home or whether the Fremont project could help finance the stadium in a different city.
The A’s represented Fremont’s best opportunity to generate money for city services, Mayor Bob Wasserman said Tuesday.
“We better get some other (development) opportunities or we’ll decline as a city,” he added, alluding to the city’s budget deficit. “We can’t sustain our city without more revenue.”
Meanwhile stadium opponents, many of whom live near the proposed Warm Springs site, declared victory over a project they contend would have cost the city more money than it would have generated.
“We think it’s a win-win & but our work is not done yet,” said Deepak Alur, a founder of the recently formed Fremont Citizens Network. “We still need to find the best way for Fremont to develop.”
The Fremont Chamber of Commerce said it will proceed with its pro-A’s rally at 5:30 p.m. today at the Saddle Rack nightclub, 42011 Boscell Road.
“If there is any sliver of hope, we want to make that statement that there are people here who want to see that opportunity pursued,” said Nina Moore, the chamber’s government and community affairs director.
The chamber lamented that Fremont never got the chance to fully study the potential traffic and environmental impacts of the stadium proposals.
“There is a process that we follow in the city to determine whether something that looks good for the city is good for the city,” Moore said. “And that process has been short-circuited and we’ve lost what could have been a great opportunity for the city.”
The A’s spent two years and $24 million trying to earn their way into Fremont, as Wolff liked to say. In addition, the team contributed money to more than 80 Fremont-based community events in 2008, he wrote.
The team’s initial proposal to use the proceeds from a housing and retail development near Pacific Commons to pay for the adjacent ballpark generated nearly unanimous excitement in City Hall.
While major cities across the country recently have paid the full cost of new sports facilities, Fremont would have gotten the A’s without having to chip in for the ballpark. Supporters also saw the proposal as a cash cow that would bring people to Fremont to spend their money, and a sign that the Bay Area’s fourth largest city had come of age.
“It establishes you as a city, as an important city,” Wasserman said of being home to a major league team. “It makes your city a city that’s known nationwide. It makes your city one that a lot of people desire.”
But last autumn, as public support for the stadium seemed strong, the $1.8 billion project suffered twin blows.
The credit crunch and housing bust meant Wolff couldn’t count on the surrounding development to help finance stadium construction. Around the same time, the owner of both Pacific Commons and the ballpark village site warned that it would use its veto power over the stadium if the A’s couldn’t come to an agreement on parking and traffic with its three biggest retail tenants.
So in December the A’s came up with a Plan B.
The team proposed moving the stadium adjacent to a BART station planned for the intersection of Warm Springs and South Grimmer boulevards, and keeping the housing and retail at Pacific Commons.
The new stadium site was better served by mass transit, but was much closer to residential neighborhoods, and NUMMI, which already had issued concerns about a stadium at Pacific Commons.
Within weeks, the upstart Fremont Citizens Network claimed 800 members and got as many people to show up for an anti-stadium protest. Meanwhile NUMMI warned that potential traffic problems caused by the stadium would likely doom the plant, which employees 4,800 people.
Faced with stiff opposition on all fronts, and with his original stadium financing plan no longer viable, Wolff threw in the towel Tuesday.
“I’m sorry that I have failed in my desire to 'earn’ the right to have the A’s located in your great city,” he wrote in Tuesday’s letter. “As I have come to realize, the process to achieve important projects in California can be even more of a challenge than perhaps getting to the World Series.”
Fremont A’s boosters can put away their rally caps.
The team announced Tuesday that it has given up hope of coming to town in the face of staunch opposition from residents and several businesses.
“I have concluded that further consideration of the A’s relocating to Fremont must cease,” team co-owner Lew Wolff wrote in a letter sent to city officials Tuesday.
Wolff’s announcement had been expected since last week when he halted the environmental process needed to approve a future stadium either adjacent to the Pacific Commons shopping center west of Interstate 880, or between interstates 680 and 880 near the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant.
The A’s first targeted the Pacific Commons area south of Auto Mall Parkway for its $1.8 billion stadium and housing/commercial project, but ran into opposition from the center’s three largest retailers, which feared the ballpark would cause traffic and parking problems.
In December, the team turned its focus to a second site — about 1.5 miles to the southeast — adjacent to a planned BART station on the edge of the city’s Warm Springs district.
But that plan encountered stiff resistance from NUMMI, the city’s largest employer, as well as from nearby residents, who threatened to file lawsuits that would hold up stadium construction or put approval of the stadium to citywide vote.
That was part of Wolff’s concern.
The threat of “further delays, legal actions and perhaps referendums is simply something that I have decided to forgo,” Wolff wrote.
Wolff is still interested in one day building a nonstadium project in Fremont that would include 3,150 homes, along with stores, offices and an elementary school adjacent to Pacific Commons, he said Tuesday.
He wouldn’t comment on whether the A’s might reconsider Fremont as a future home or whether the Fremont project could help finance the stadium in a different city.
The A’s represented Fremont’s best opportunity to generate money for city services, Mayor Bob Wasserman said Tuesday.
“We better get some other (development) opportunities or we’ll decline as a city,” he added, alluding to the city’s budget deficit. “We can’t sustain our city without more revenue.”
Meanwhile stadium opponents, many of whom live near the proposed Warm Springs site, declared victory over a project they contend would have cost the city more money than it would have generated.
“We think it’s a win-win & but our work is not done yet,” said Deepak Alur, a founder of the recently formed Fremont Citizens Network. “We still need to find the best way for Fremont to develop.”
The Fremont Chamber of Commerce said it will proceed with its pro-A’s rally at 5:30 p.m. today at the Saddle Rack nightclub, 42011 Boscell Road.
“If there is any sliver of hope, we want to make that statement that there are people here who want to see that opportunity pursued,” said Nina Moore, the chamber’s government and community affairs director.
The chamber lamented that Fremont never got the chance to fully study the potential traffic and environmental impacts of the stadium proposals.
“There is a process that we follow in the city to determine whether something that looks good for the city is good for the city,” Moore said. “And that process has been short-circuited and we’ve lost what could have been a great opportunity for the city.”
The A’s spent two years and $24 million trying to earn their way into Fremont, as Wolff liked to say. In addition, the team contributed money to more than 80 Fremont-based community events in 2008, he wrote.
The team’s initial proposal to use the proceeds from a housing and retail development near Pacific Commons to pay for the adjacent ballpark generated nearly unanimous excitement in City Hall.
While major cities across the country recently have paid the full cost of new sports facilities, Fremont would have gotten the A’s without having to chip in for the ballpark. Supporters also saw the proposal as a cash cow that would bring people to Fremont to spend their money, and a sign that the Bay Area’s fourth largest city had come of age.
“It establishes you as a city, as an important city,” Wasserman said of being home to a major league team. “It makes your city a city that’s known nationwide. It makes your city one that a lot of people desire.”
But last autumn, as public support for the stadium seemed strong, the $1.8 billion project suffered twin blows.
The credit crunch and housing bust meant Wolff couldn’t count on the surrounding development to help finance stadium construction. Around the same time, the owner of both Pacific Commons and the ballpark village site warned that it would use its veto power over the stadium if the A’s couldn’t come to an agreement on parking and traffic with its three biggest retail tenants.
So in December the A’s came up with a Plan B.
The team proposed moving the stadium adjacent to a BART station planned for the intersection of Warm Springs and South Grimmer boulevards, and keeping the housing and retail at Pacific Commons.
The new stadium site was better served by mass transit, but was much closer to residential neighborhoods, and NUMMI, which already had issued concerns about a stadium at Pacific Commons.
Within weeks, the upstart Fremont Citizens Network claimed 800 members and got as many people to show up for an anti-stadium protest. Meanwhile NUMMI warned that potential traffic problems caused by the stadium would likely doom the plant, which employees 4,800 people.
Faced with stiff opposition on all fronts, and with his original stadium financing plan no longer viable, Wolff threw in the towel Tuesday.
“I’m sorry that I have failed in my desire to 'earn’ the right to have the A’s located in your great city,” he wrote in Tuesday’s letter. “As I have come to realize, the process to achieve important projects in California can be even more of a challenge than perhaps getting to the World Series.”
