It’s now 32 hours until the Los Angeles Angels stadium land sale vote, and here’s what’s happening:
- The Voice of OC’s Spencer Custodio reports that some land across the street from the stadium site sold for twice as much per acre as team owner Arte Moreno is offering the city of Anaheim: A 3.8-acre plot that became the George Apartments sold for $4.5 million an acre in 2014; 6.48 acres that’s now the Gateway Apartments sold for $3.5 million an acre in 2012; and 3.72 acres that became condos on State College Boulevard sold for $8.06 million an acre in 2005. Moreno’s $325 million offer — if not reduced further by discounts for building parks and affordable housing — comes to just $2.1 million an acre. Land appraisals are more art than science, and pricing of comparable properties is just one method of figuring out land value (and finding comparable parcels can be nearly impossible, since most other sites for sale aren’t nearly so large and also don’t have a stadium sitting in the middle of them), but as I tell Custodio in his article, these figures are “probably a red flag that you should reevaluate the numbers.”
- Some locals like the deal, some don’t, and some just want the Angels to get more pitching.
- A majority of the city council appears set to vote for the deal, with councilmembers Trevor O’Neil and Stephen Faessel telling the OC Register that while the city is admittedly accepting less than top market value for the land, it’s worth it to lock in the Angels for 30 years and get the land developed now; and also that, in the Register’s words, “residents they’ve heard from want the team to stay in town and folks are not concerned with the minutiae of a deal to make that happen.”
- Maybe they’ll be more concerned once they read the Register’s editorial declaring that “the devil is in the details, and city officials need to provide more crucial details before moving forward with the plan.” Though the paper’s editorial board doesn’t actually call for a “no” vote tomorrow, just saying that they’d like to get more information.
- The Register has an explainer on what we know about the deal and what we still don’t know, with an emphasis on “don’t know.”
That’s a big mess, frankly, and I’d say we still don’t know enough to say where the land sale plan falls on the spectrum between “not too terrible” and “total ripoff.” Which is why taking a vote tomorrow seems bizarrely rushed — if the council puts off a vote, Moreno will have to choose between opting out of his lease and having nowhere to play in 2021 (not super likely, though he could always try it as brinksmanship) or getting locked into his current lease through 2029, which would give the council plenty of time to vet the deal properly. As I told Custodio: “You’re only going to be able to sell the stadium land once. You want to get it correct.”
Umm…where would the Angels move if they weren’t “in town?” There really aren’t any places I could even think that actually make sense…
California coastline. Finite land available for development. It’s why Central Valley cities have experienced explosive growth. LA, SD and SF, even their suburbs, are for the most part built out (if Camp Pendleton is ever opened up for development, it will be CA’s 2nd gold rush, San Onofre and exploded ordnance not withstanding).
$325 million. Seriously? Neil, ✔️ with your relatives who bought a home in Anaheim recently. Undeveloped SoCal property. Easily worth twice the value. Re✔️ the scale. Dial is closer to “rip off.”
Per FoS December 5, 2019 article, “Yesterday afternoon did see the release of the appraisal of the Angels’ stadium-plus-parking-lot land, but that wasn’t super-clear either: It determined a “Range of Hypothetical Prospective Fair Market Value” for the site of between $300 million and $320 million — but then laid out more specific examples that provided a range of values between $134 million and $500 million, so it’s not totally apparent where the $300-320 million determination comes from. It still makes the $325 million sale price at least not too far off from fair market value, but when “not too far off” could potentially mean leaving $175 million on the table, you really want to make sure all the t’s are crossed.” Appraisals can be whatever “you” need them to be.
“Moreno will have to choose between opting out of his lease and having nowhere to play in 2021.” Portland P’s has some really cool vaportecture! Nashville and Orlando are home to “Stars” or “Dreamers,” respectively! Sup”pose” he could move the team back to Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. Long Beach? Ahhh, no! Moreno has no where to go.
https://youtu.be/zfGHZzumXJ4
Councilpersons are poised to approve $325 million, they’ve already paved the way with their “talking points,” then they will head out for that long needed holiday vacation, to avoid any fallout or repercussions from their constituents who object (understandably, the majority of constituents are too busy living their day-to-day lives, to get involved, dig beneath the surface to see their elected officials are doing what’s in Moreno’s best interests, certainly not Anaheim’s or theirs. That’s the way these things happen).
And everyone lived happily, ever, after. The End.
Ahhh. Don’t worry about it. In a few years from now you’ll forget all about this. You’ll remember you don’t believe in any of this politics in sports crap. Sports is your escape from politics, remember? Here, take a cookie. I promise, by the time your done eating it, you’ll feel “right as rain.”
This seems like one of those screeds you get from *that* uncle at a holiday dinner, where they took some not-actually-controversial nugget and ran with it for… reasons…
Un. As in unexploded. As in uncle. As in uncontroversial. As in unwise. As in not unreasonable. As in unproven, $325 million.
Mom, Apple Pie and Baseball Stadium ripoffs.
So American!!!!