The Alameda County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a non-binding term sheet for the sale of the Oakland Coliseum property at a special meeting Thursday.
The term sheet establishes certain provisions that the county would like to see codified in the event of a sale to the Oakland Acquisition Company, an affiliate of the Oakland-based African American Sports and Entertainment Group.
Its main elements include a county agreement to buy half of the property from the former Oakland A’s baseball team for $115 million, after which OAC would buy that same ownership stake of the 112-acre site from the county for $115 million, plus 5% annual interest, in three installments.
Also, the sale of the entire complex would be in an “as is” condition, with the county off the hook for most environmental remediation that a development project might require.
The term sheet also specifies that prior to the closing date, OAC will secure dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the environmental nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment, which alleged that the county violated the state Surplus Lands Act by selling its half-interest in the site to the A’s for $85 million in 2019 without first giving public notice or trying to build affordable housing.
Under the new terms, the county would also receive no less than either $50 million from the sale of the Oakland Arena adjacent to the Coliseum or one half of the sales price, whichever is larger, and would retain the right to approve such a sale.
June 30 is set as the closing date for a sale to OAC, which is also the date at which an unnamed arena buyer would assume operations of the facility, now largely operating as a concert and events venue.
Environmental concerns and redevelopment negotiations
AASEG co-founder Ray Bobbitt said he is in touch with a couple of potential buyers for the arena, which sits right next to the former football and baseball stadium in the middle of a vast field of open-air parking lots.
Bobbitt had sought an 11th hour change to the terms, which were only made available to the public Wednesday morning, in order to make such a sale more likely.
He requested an exemption from the county’s environmental indemnification for the 8-acre arena site, saying failure to do so could complicate any arena sales negotiations already underway.
“This could be certainly impactful and could really hurt us a lot, but if you’re asking me if we’re going to walk away, no I’m not going to say that,” Bobbitt said after the meeting. “You can now see it’s been about the environmental, that’s been the biggest issue.”
Supervisor Elisa Marquez strongly objected to the request and moved to approve the term sheet as written, which her colleagues on the board supported although Supervisor David Haubert seemed to signal he was open to negotiating that provision.
And indeed, since the term sheet is nonbinding, Bobbitt said there is still room to negotiate prior to finalizing a sales agreement with the county.
Redevelopment plans move forward amid arena sale talks
OAC has been working for about five years to buy the Coliseum site, formerly home to the A’s, the now-Las Vegas Raiders football team and the Golden State Warriors basketball team, all of which left for other cities.
The city of Oakland owns the other half of the property and last year OAC agreed to buy both Oakland’s and the A’s shares of the property for $125 million each, but needed the Board of Supervisors’ approval to move forward.
The term sheet supervisors approved Thursday adjusts the original sales price, ownership details and environmental responsibilities, but doesn’t apply to Oakland’s half of the deal.
