A federal grant will help Fremont plot the future of the closed car-manufacturing plant, now pitched as the potential site of a new Oakland A's ballpark.
A federal grant will help Fremont plot the future of the closed car-manufacturing plant, now pitched as the potential site of a new Oakland A's ballpark.
The grant, $333,000 from the U.S. Department of Commerce is designed to help Fremont officials plot the next life for the 370-acre site, sitting idle since April 1 when the joint manufacturing venture between General Motors and Toyota closed.
The site grades high in terms of suitability for a ballpark site: there's plentiful freeway access, there's lots of land for parking and other development, and there's a BART station opening in 2014. The proposal calls for 120 acres to be devoted to the ballpark site. (Compare that to the eight-plus acres used for Target Field.) Of course, the aesthetics of the site are woefully lacking: the NUMMI site is in the midst of an industrial area.
The biggest advantage for the site for Lew Wolff: it's in Fremont, but it's still close to the San Jose population/advertising base he covets. The biggest advantage for Fremont officials: there's no residential area nearby to oppose the proposal.
Still, there are some obstacles looming. Wolff has already made such a commitment to a new San Jose ballpark that it may be hard for him to pull back and go back to Fremont. A task force appointed by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig regarding the future of the A's will consider the Fremont site in addition to a San Jose site and four Oakland sites (three downtown in addition to the present Coliseum site). And Fremont officials are talking like they want to be paid for the land; San Jose is offering free land for a privately financed facility.
RELATED STORIES: Fremont comes back to A's, MLB with another ballpark site; Wolff: A's could share ballpark with MLS's Quakes; Does a San Jose A&'s ballpark make economic sense?; Giants digging in their heels in opposition to A's San Jose ballpark; San Jose to put off ballpark referendum until 2010; San Jose ballpark committee meets for first time; San Jose to discuss blueprints for A's ballpark negotiations; Various San Jose groups begin task of landing A's; Selig forms committee to study Oakland ballpark situation; Wolff to Oakland: Drop dead!; Oakland forming new committee to pursue new A's ballpark; San Jose mayor: We have better than 50-50 shot at landing the A's; San Jose city committee wants to see poll of residents before moving forward on A's; Could Oakland Coliseum work as baseball-only venue?; Wolff: Goal is team in "Northern California"; A's officially drop Fremont ballpark plans; Wolff says there's no backup plan; A's suspend Fremont plans; will reevaluate future home for club; A's: No new ballpark until 2014; Wolff: A's still committed to Fremont ballpark; A's cancel community meetings as opposition to new ballpark plan accelerates; New A's ballpark opposed by hundreds of protesters; Oakland admits original plans for Cisco Field are all but dead
Share your news with the baseball community. Send it to us at editors@augustpublications.com.
Subscribers to the weekly Ballpark Digest newsletter see features before they're posted to the site. You can sign up for a free subscription at the Newsletter Signup Page.
Join Ballpark Digest on Facebook and on Twitter!