In a move to "solidify" their commitment to building a
new downtown ballpark, the Padres announced last week that
their development team will spend $24M to acquire about 12
acres of land owned by San Diego Gas & Electric Co.,
according to Lori Weisberg of the S.D. UNION-TRIBUNE. Padres
President & CEO Larry Lucchino: "It has been said that this
is a giant step forward. This is like 10 or 20 steps
forward." The property, which has been owned by SDG&E for
over a century, comprises about one-third of the land
required to build the $411M stadium and surrounding retail,
hotel and office projects that are planned. SDG&E parent
company Sempra Energy, the single largest land owner within
the 26-block downtown ballpark district, is selling the land.
It has long been "speculated" that Sempra would hold naming
rights to the new ballpark, "but no definitive news on that
front was forthcoming" last week. The team said the land
acquisition "will go a long way toward meeting its obligation
to arrange" $300-$400M worth of redevelopment around the
ballpark. The Padres have an April 1 deadline "for assuring
the city it has made sufficient progress on the ballpark
project," and are hoping to have the stadium completed by
April 2002 (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 3/12). On Friday, the
Padres unveiled an "ambitious" $466M redevelopment plan that
includes three hotels, a retail complex, an office park and
tower and a mini residential neighborhood (SAN DIEGO UNION-
TRIBUNE, 3/13). But city officials have said the Padres'
plan "falls short of the financial mark" because they have
failed to produce any written commitments from financial
institutions, and they want the team to spend more "risk
capital" on the project (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 3/13).
TICKET SALES: The team has sold more than 11,000 full-
season-ticket packages -- the second-highest total in team
history -- "and it hasn't ruled out a record season
attendance total for the second straight year." The team
sold 9,803 full packages last year (UNION-TRIBUNE, 3/13).
