New Stadium Developments...hmmmm

[Beerman]

Only you guys can look at this proposal as a negative! Step in the right direction, IMO. Not once (at least to my recollection) had there been mention of a big time redevelopment firm before. This means MUCH more money available.

In case you guys don't know, this group has been invested in sports before - owning Paris St. Germaine (Paris' Soccer team). I think they are still minority owners, althought they sold the majority share to Qatar Investments (aka big oil cash from the middle east). Colony also partly bought Miramax from Disney with some other partners.

Essentially, it's another Guggenheim group. They have billions backing them.

How do I interpret this move? It means Alex Spanos sells his share of the team to this group if they can work out a deal to get this stadium/entertainment complex done. If I remember correctly, Alex currently owns about 30% of the team. He's been slowly passing all the stocks to the family over the years.

This is a very good step in the right direction.

[Beerman]

Oh hey missed Canepa chiming in on the UT.

It figured that when Bob Filner took his feel-bad story and vamoosed, those trying to compose the Chargers’ new-stadium narrative would be cursed with even more writer’s block, which sadly they’ve been experiencing for more than a decade. No paper. No ink. No help. No stone on which to carve it.

Help may be coming, but for the most part, it’s been true and remains true.

“No way we can get this done without a mayor’s support,” says Mark Fabiani, long the Chargers’ point man on the new stadium effort. “Funny thing, Filner was beginning to get the big picture. The two pieces of land the city owns (Qualcomm Stadium and Sports Arena sites, which could be sold to help pay off a new downtown, roofed, multiuse sports/entertainment and convention facility and campus) are costing the public millions and the city can put them to far better use.

“Typical of our timing, though. We finally get a mayor in favor of it and he’s forced out of office. Hopefully, the new mayor will have a similar view.”

But Fabiani and the Chargers now are more hopeful than they’ve been in years, because in Santa Monica-based Colony Capital, one of the most respected real estate investment firms in the world, they finally have found a powerful business partner completely onboard the franchise’s cruise.

And they aren’t going to mess around.


The big issue is the Convention Center expansion (another one) that has been proposed adjacent to the present structure, a big box that will sit alongside the harbor and is perfectly set to be yet another San Diego boondoggle that has yet to be thoroughly studied by many of our visionless politicians.

City Hall, which obviously hasn’t done enough homework on the proposed project, hasn’t heard experts who correctly claim that a contiguous convention center isn’t necessary, and that this proposal not only will further block bay views, but turn traffic on that part of Harbor Drive into a nightmare.

The U-T’s proposed vision of East Village and 10th Avenue Marine Terminal redevelopment remains the best, but once again, we’re dealing with people who can’t see across a room. What the Chargers, Colony and JMI Realty (downtown’s biggest developer) are in favor of is to build a new stadium/convention center addition across Harbor Drive and easily accessible by the new walk bridge. It may not be what the U-T has proposed, but it just might do.

The California Coastal Commission, the final word, is scheduled to hear the Convention Center’s proposal next month in San Diego. The CCC welcomes other alternatives, and the Chargers and Colony will be there to present theirs. There’s a chance the CCC — which is based in San Francisco — would nix the box expansion out of hand, anyway, and that might open up space that could be put to fascinating use, not just on the proposed stadium site, but for the entire downtown East Village.The Chargers and Colony have sent the CCC letters, copies obtained by the U-T, stating their combined facility proposal eventually would be more cost-effective, not on Port land, far superior than the box, and that their project not only could attract major sporting events such as the Super Bowl and Final Four, but also large religious and political conventions requiring expanses of flat floor space. They add the suggested campuslike approach would pull convention goers across the railroad tracks and into downtown commercial areas.

“The Convention Center expansion doesn’t have to be contiguous; that’s a total lie,” says someone close to the situation (not Fabiani or a member of the Chargers). “Even if you take the Chargers out of this completely, you’re looking at a total catastrophe if the city’s plan goes through. We have experts and engineers who say it isn’t going to work.

“They built a beautiful terminal, but on the wrong side of the airport, now this. I can’t tell you how many people don’t think it will work, but they allowed labor to just push it through. It’s just terrible land use, blocking the waterfront and the bayside park.

“From a land-use perspective, we know this is a stupid way to expand the Convention Center. The Chargers’ proposal makes more sense. It pulls activity into the community, rather than the railroad tracks. Remember all the crap about Comic-Con leaving? Totally fabricated. Comic-Con never was leaving; it’s going nowhere.

“The lack of scrutiny on this thing is mind-boggling. Do we know the Convention Center is not able to operate to full capacity during Padres home games? Do we know there’s a 30-percent hold in the financing of the Convention Center expansion? The new proposal can be financed without hotel tax. It could be dynamic, really exciting and cool and much more marketable. The economics of it are compelling and the Chargers will be an asset rather than a liability. But I don’t know if there is one creative mind down there.”

This is a wise man talking here. And here’s another, Fred Maas, former head of the Centre City Development Corp. and an assistant to former mayor Jerry Sanders on new stadium issues.

“The proposed alternative seems to be a plausible argument,” Maas says. “Look what our smaller brethren, like Seattle and Denver, are doing. The letters that have been sent are worth considering. We’re looking at an incredible engine for downtown, and we should figure out a solution for the 10th Avenue Terminal.

“Qualcomm Stadium is embarrassing. It’s not safe. As it is, billions are about to be spent on a high-speed rail system that isn’t going to work. I think it’s great that Colony guys have teamed with the Chargers. A major step. Colony’s absolutely first rate. With the economy back, now is the time. The Chargers have gotten a bum rap.

“There’s got to be a way. I refuse to accept the notion that it can’t be done. Where have all the smart people gone?”

Well, I just spoke to three of them. City Hall needs to grow a pair — of eyes and ears.

So like I posted previously, Colony's involvement is why this proposal has legs. The Chargers, alone, don't have the muscle and funds to get this done. In a partnership with this much money backing them, it looks like it can actually get done.

[TABF]

Oh hey missed Canepa chiming in on the UT. ...
So like I posted previously, Colony's involvement is why this proposal has legs. The Chargers, alone, don't have the muscle and funds to get this done. In a partnership with this much money backing them, it looks like it can actually get done.

Agree with you on the nay-sayers...

[Den60]

Probably talking about the entire stadium. For a convention, they could make use of much more than the actual field.

I thought I read something that for the really big conventions they needed contiguous floor space.

[Wheels]

With them based in Santa Monica, isn't there a chance their true motives are to get the Chargers up to LA?

[QSmokey]

With them based in Santa Monica, isn't there a chance their true motives are to get the Chargers up to LA?

And the argument comes full circle.

[Mister Hoarse]

Guggenheim already has a huge stadium property in Los Angeles. In Chavez Ravine.
The NFL's first choice for a new Stadium has always been Chavez Ravine.
Colony is a Guggenheim Company.
The Chargers partnered with Colony this week.
USC took control of the LA Coliseum this week.
The LA Coliseum Commission is no longer involved as of this week.

There is certainly enough leverage do get something done up north if not here.

[QSmokey]

....

You know, you can actually DELETE one of your posts. Instead of editing it and putting in 4 dots to meet the minimum post length requirement.

[Mister Hoarse]

You know, you can actually DELETE one of your posts. Instead of editing it and putting in 4 dots to meet the minimum post length requirement.

What post?













:couch:

[SDFan]

I thought I read something that for the really big conventions they needed contiguous floor space.

it's a lie! says Fibiani...

[QSmokey]

What post?













:couch:

You can run, but you can't hide (behind the couch). I quoted your post, so it's there for all to see.

[TABF]

Apparently the interim mayor (who looks like a goober), isn't big on our new plan....

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...dium-proposal/.