http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-n ... iseum-cityKephart: Even odds for new Raiders stadium Coliseum City developmentBy Matthew Artz
martz@bayareanewsgroup.comOAKLAND -- Floyd Kephart says he's not throwing in the towel on his proposed $4 billion mega-development that would keep the Raiders in Oakland, even as local leaders appear to be giving their handpicked financial partner the cold shoulder.
Addressing a sparsely attended breakfast gathering Tuesday, the embattled finance professional gave himself, at best, even odds of success and suggested that the revised development proposal he submitted last week to Oakland and Alameda County leaders included at least a couple of key amendments that could win over critics.
Kephart's standing took a hit in June when his initial development plan for the project known as Coliseum City, including his formula to privately finance a $900 million football stadium, was widely panned.
Floyd Kephart, the man trying to redevelop the Oakland Coliseum complex and finance construction of a new stadium for the Raiders, talks about his plans in
Notably absent from Tuesday's event at Lungomare, a restaurant in Jack London Square, was anyone from the mayor's office, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors or the Raiders.
"It's their loss, not mine," Kephart said when asked about the no-shows.
Mayor Libby Schaaf had a prior engagement, a spokesman said. Alameda County leaders have been critical of Kephart's initial development plan, and the Raiders have refused to address it.
Their absence spoke volumes about the state of the project, former Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente said.
"To have a $4 billion project and no one shows up, that is absolutely a bad sign, but I'm not surprised," he said. "With all due respect to (Kephart's) team, I don't think they have shown the ability to get a deal together."
Kephart, 73, emerged as an unlikely champion for Raiders fans last October after two major development firms gave up on Coliseum City. Without major development experience but touting his connections to hedge funds, he insisted that money was not the issue for the project, which would include a football stadium -- and possibly a baseball stadium -- surrounded by 4,000 homes and enough office space to fill three Transamerica Pyramid buildings.
Kephart, who has refused to publicly disclose his financial backers, said Tuesday that he can make the commercial development pencil out. But he still doesn't have the Raiders on board, even though the city originally required him to have "a binding agreement" with the team on a new stadium before the end of last year.
Kephart said the Raiders needed to show the same level of commitment toward a new stadium in Oakland as they have toward the stadium they are pursuing in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson.
"I hope (they) will take a more proactive approach to Oakland," he said. "And tell the fans exactly what they're going to do and how they're going to do it. That would be helpful to the city ... and certainly to us."
Even if the Raiders hop on board, Kephart still lacks support from Alameda County, which co-owns the 120-acre site that is home to O.co Coliseum and Oracle Arena but would get far less tax revenue than the city if the land is redeveloped.
Kephart said his investors would be willing to help the city buy the county's share of the Coliseum land to simplify negotiations. If the buyout talks succeed, Kephart said his odds of success would jump to about 80 percent.
Kephart's latest proposal remains confidential, but he did indicate that it will include at least two changes that could make it more palatable to the Raiders and county officials.
He said there would be no attempt from his investors to purchase a piece of the Raiders. Originally, he proposed the team selling a 20 percent stake for $200 million, with half of the sale price going toward stadium construction.
Kephart also said that parking garages, for which he had sought $80 million from the city and county, would now be privately funded.
As for closing an estimated $400 million shortfall for the stadium, Kephart suggested the city issue bonds backed by future stadium revenue.The audience at Tuesday's breakfast gathering was notably smaller than at a similar event Kephart held at the restaurant in April, but Raiders fans in attendance said they still believed in him.
"I'm optimistic about Floyd," said Oakland resident David Chambers, a member of the fan group Save Oakland Sports. "We've got to have faith. I'm not trying to put it in a religious context, but I've seen miracles happen."
Larry Reid, the only Oakland City Council member in attendance, declined an invitation to address the gathering, saying he hadn't seen Kephart's latest proposal.
Kephart's departure would not doom Oakland's chances for holding on to the A's and Raiders. The city is continuing separate stadium negotiations with both teams, and there is no guarantee that the NFL will greenlight the Raiders' Los Angeles-area stadium proposal.
But Kephart has put considerable time and several million dollars into redeveloping the sprawling Coliseum site into a tax-generating destination center. And it's unclear whether anyone is waiting in the wings to champion such a massive development.
Kephart's contract to negotiate with the city and county expires Sept. 24. He said he expected elected leaders to give his proposal a fair review next month but needed to know by October whether they wanted to move ahead with him.
"While everybody might think that Oakland is the garden spot of the world, we have projects in three different continents and around the country," he said. "And I have lots to do."
Contact Matthew Artz at 510-208-6435.
