Lew Wolff will reportedly move ballpark site close to BART line, scrap Ballpark Village concept.
The Oakland A’s are looking at moving the site of a proposed Fremont ballpark closer to a planned BART stop, as team officials seem reconciled to dropping a master plan for 3,000 townhouses and apartment units surrounding and basically financing the facility.
One of the biggest criticisms of the A’s ballpark proposal was the location of the ballpark several miles away from mass transit west of Interstate 880, potentially causing massive traffic jams before and after games. However, it sounds like the A’s are willing to look at moving the ballpark site to a 40-acre parcel across the street from the Warm Springs BART station, which could be built this coming summer. The extension of the BART line to San Jose could potentially bring A’s fans in both from Oakland and San Jose.
Despite public reassuranced by Lew Wolff and crew, it’s an open secret in baseball that the A’s ballpark proposal in in trouble: the financial underpinnings of the deal make little sense now that the economy is bad and there’s little demand for new housing in the Fremont area. Moving the ballpark site next to the BART stadium makes sense for the team.