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August 30, 2009
Could NUMMI plant closing re-open Fremont to A's?
Toyota has announced it's abandoning its giant NUMMI plant in Fremont, California, next March, on the grounds that nobody's buying cars anymore. What does this have to do with sports stadiums? Well, NUMMI's opposition was one of the main reasons that Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff decided to ditch plans for a new stadium in Fremont earlier this year.
If NUMMI is shut down — it's still part-owned by the tattered remnants of General Motors — that would seem to open the door to a stadium on the Warm Springs site near a planned BART train station, especially if the NUMMI property is made available as well. Of course, given that Wolff's main goal right now seems to be convincing everyone that San Jose is his only option, he might not be all that happy to hear that.
I think it is very much a possibility that the Warm Springs Stadium would be an option again with Nummi closing down. Granted they weren't the only reason there was opposition, but they were the big one when it came to the Warm Springs site. Wolff didn't burn any bridges in Fremont, the city leadership still supported the idea and Fremont might be more amenable to a stadium now that their single biggest employer is shuttering. Question still remains how would the finance it of course, but I think Fremont is quite possibly back in the running. And who knows it might become the front runner again since San Jose while the primary focus right now has the on big as yet unresolved territorial issue.
Posted by Dan on August 30, 2009 01:02 PM
Even if the A's buy the NUMMI site, it would be a long time before a stdium saw the light of day. The close out and clean up processes will be lengthy. No doubt the stadium would be a boon to the local businesses on game and other event days, but not even close to what they will have lost when NUMMI stops opperation next March 31.
Not only will the local eateries and watering holes lose, but doctor's offices and the like will have a huge loss because people will no longer get eyes checked, teeth cleaned or regular preventive health visits with any regularity because of the loss of their insurace from the job. Too bad we are experiencing this change, but nothing lasts forever. Unfortunatly.....
Big obstacles remain. San Jose has money to finance the A's, Fremont says they don't.
Reports are that the NUMMI site will have lots of contamination to clean up which might cost as much as the sale price for the land.
Sounds like an uphill battle.
Posted by Ron on August 31, 2009 02:33 PM
The Great Mall in Milpitas used to be a Ford assembly plant until 1983. The mall opened in 1994. If an A's stadium on the Nummi site is in play, then it'd probably take about 10 years or so before the inaugural first pitch. I don't think Wolff wants to wait this long especially if San Jose voters say Yes.
Posted by JJ on August 31, 2009 03:20 PM
The Fremont Cisco Field/Ballpark Village project was much different that the San Jose possibility. The A's were going to pay for everything and the sale of the residential development in the ballpark village wwas going to offset the costs to build the stadium and wouldn't cost the City of Fremont. It would also have brought $15 million a year to the re-development agency, as well as, many new jobs and put Fremont oin the map!
I spent the last three years working on the project as the Cahirman of the A's To Fremont Support Group. www.AsToFremont.com
Posted by Steven R. Lloyd on August 31, 2009 05:19 PM
Well by the same token the SJ ballpark will also not cost the city any more than the Fremont one would have cost that city. In SJ a vote is required for any city money to be used on the ballpark (a vote not likely to pass in a good year). So SJ too will be a privately financed ballpark if built there. That is unless the SJ voters decide they want to use public funds on it, which again I highly doubt they would.
Posted by Dan on August 31, 2009 08:03 PM