Oakland mayor details terms of city's deal to sell its share of the Coliseum
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao touted her deal to sell the city's share of the Oakland Coliseum Tuesday morning.
Oakland city leaders confirmed Monday that they had agreed on the terms to sell the Coliseum site to the African American Sports and Entertainment Group. The deal was signed Tuesday morning at Oakland City Hall.
The $105-million sale will potentially allow the city to avoid budget cuts as it struggles with a major financial shortfall.
According to the term sheet, the developer will pay the city in installments over the next few years. Thao spoke about the deal at Tuesday morning press conference.
Oakland Coliseum sale summary of terms by CBS News Bay Area on Scribd
Thao said the deal will lead to a multi-billion dollar investment in the East Oakland Community.
"We are investing in a place where it has been underinvested in for too many decades," Thao said at the press conference. "Working with an organization, the African American Sports and Entertainment Group that really cares for the community; not only when it's popular, not only when they need the community support, but day in and day out."
The mayor went on to say the sale will consist of five payments to the city totaling $105 million set to be complete by June of 2026.
Ray Bobbitt, the developer's founder and an Oakland native, said that the city's financial challenges and potential cuts to its services gave him a personal reason to accelerate the negotiations.
"This is where we are born and raised," Bobbitt said. "So, whatever we have to do in order to ensure the safety of my grandparents is something that I'm obviously going to be ready to move forward with."
The deal allows the city to stave off $63 million in cuts that would have been needed to shore up the deficit in the next couple of years. That means avoiding cuts to fire and police services among other things.
But there is some skepticism about the deal. The Oakland Police Officers Association issued a statement that said in part, it was "doubtful the sale of the coliseum will solve the mayor's and city council's epic mismanagement. We are deeply concerned for the safety of residents, businesses and our police officers. "
The African American Sports and Entertainment Grou is planning to redevelop the area with new additions that include affordable housing.
One possible complication is that the A's own the other half of the Coliseum site. The group say it's now working with the team to purchase that portion.
