Oakland Coliseum City Needs A Real Design-Build Competition

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Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf issued a press release Monday that reads, in part, this way:

Mayor Libby Schaaf, Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney and Council President Pro Temps Larry Reid today announced their support for extending the negotiating agreement with New City, as well as bringing the A’s and Raiders to the table to discuss developing the coliseum land themselves. Mayor Schaaf has also secured a commitment from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to consider formally joining the City of Oakland in this new approach at their next meeting January 27th. The Oakland City Council will vote in a closed session next Tuesday, January 20th, to extend the Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) for up to 90 days, with an express condition that the City may negotiate simultaneously with its sports teams about developing the entire coliseum site.

The error here is in Mayor Schaaf’s proposal for having the Oakland Raiders and The Oakland A’s form their own developer teams to come up with a plan for Coliseum City, just as she’s proposing to extend the “exclusive negotiating agreement” with New City, the current group that was forming a proposal to build what we now see as Coliseum City, at least when you consider the models and artist renderings.

But now, what may be considered a politically genius move on Libby’s part, is one that’s as clear as mud to anyone who’s worked with developers or formed a plan to build a building or a set of them. In case you’re wondering, my background is as follows: undergraduate from Texas Arlington in “General studies” because then I could form my own set of classes to take for in city planning. In effect, preparing myself for a master’s degree program in it, which, in 1985, I was accepted into at UC Berkeley, the number one school in America to this day.

My first job was with the Oakland Office Of Economic Development and Employment as an intern. Those lights you purchased as the Home Depot in Emeryville? That big screen TV you got at Best Buy in Emeryville? You can thank me for them because, in 1987, I wrote the economic impact memo that prevented that crescent of land from becoming a wet-weather storage facility for EBMUD. In 1987, I also worked with a real estate broker to have EBMUD pipes relocated from land across from the Oakland Coliseum that is now an office building, but was then owned by the utility – the idea was to clear the land to build what was then called “Price Club” but the plan failed because then-Assistant City Manager Ezra Rapport was working behind the back of the EBMUD property manager. (That person hit the ceiling when I called her for property information.)

When Elihu Harris made me economic advisor in 1996, I cold-called Robert A.M. Stern and got him to send Paul Whalen, his top architect, to Oakland, and to form a what would have been a design-build competition that was to be ran by Forest City. Only problem was Elihu didn’t want to pay Robert A.M. Stern $500,000 to get it started. A good idea and a plan that would have worked, derailed. Recalling that brings tears to my eyes, but what the hell – I’m not mad at Elihu about it anymore, but I have to tell the truth.

I could go on and on with examples of what I’ve done to make the point that I know what the hell I’m talking about, and better than most – hell, I’ll just say everyone. Do you realize I brought Forest City to Oakland after a great presentation at the International Council Of Shopping Centers Spring Convention in Las Vegas in 1997? Anyone who was in that room in Vegas will tell you I kicked major ass, and that includes former City Manager Robert Bobb and Oakland Councilmember Larry Reid (and they better not say otherwise, either. They remember.)

We were going to have them do the plan I mentioned above, but Jerry Brown took over and steered them to his 10K effort, working with Forest City’s Greg Vilkin behind my back. But even then, I was asked to form a way to draw potential developers to Oakland, and so I created a “design symposium” that drew to my Oakland office in the Administration Building many real estate developers and brokers – many who are friends of mine to this day.

So Oakland got far less than we could have had.

And then there’s the Super Bowl Oakland Bid, but I’ll not take up time getting myself pissed off over how Mayor Brown treated me on that one. But all of that sets the stage for what I’m about to explain.

What Mayor Schaaf should have done, and can still do, is say she’s going to have a design-build competition. The current idea of telling a developer they have an “exclusive” negotiating agreement but then telling the sports teams they can make their own proposals, is crazymaking.

What should be done is this: the City and the County jointly run the competition with a task force that consists of sports execs, sports marketing specialists, planning consultants, elected officials, members of the sports teams and members from the community. A foundation of what is offered should be crafted: land available, land stats on infrastructure, and how much in financing the City and County can contribute. Developers from around the World would be invited to an event presenting the opportunity to be in the Coliseum City Design-Build Competition. Each one would have to form their own team of developer, architect, and investors. A small entry fee of $50,000 each would be charged not just to help with City and County staff costs, but to weed out those who can’t really do the project.

The teams would have to make their own scale models and renderings. Then the public would vote on the outcome. If this reads like the Harold Washington Library Competition, or the San Francisco TransBay Transit Center Design – Development Competition below, you’re right. See my video:

That is the right way to do what, I think, Mayor Schaaf is trying to achieve. What the Mayor should want is managed competition, not competition. I don’t know who’s idea the current proposal was, but it’s not in line with what’s done – it’s messy. It not only sends a bad message to the current developer, it still does not deal with the question of what the City and the County can bring to the table. There’s no foundation for planning. Plus, there are too many politicians involved at too high a level. Libby needs to bite the bullet and tab someone as the “czar” for this project. Look, none of this is rocket science: there are people who have done this before. The examples are many. Design-build competitions work, and it will work for Oakland and Coliseum City.

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