A's co-Owner Lew Wolff said that if his team were to build a new ballpark at the site of O.co Coliseum, he "would want it surrounded by acres of surface parking spaces," according to Matthew Artz of the OAKLAND TRIBUNE. Wolff said that there is "not enough land readily available at the Coliseum complex to build a stadium and satisfy the city's desire for additional development." He added that the "only way it could work ... would be to build multilevel parking garages, but that would leave fans waiting in long lines" to get out. Wolff: "We want surface parking surrounding the ballpark wherever we build it unless we're in the heart of a downtown." Artz wrote Wolff's comments are "another potential blow for transforming the sprawling Oakland Coliseum complex into a bustling sports and entertainment district." It had been "widely anticipated that if the A's chose to build a new ballpark at the site, they would want those development rights to help offset the cost of stadium construction." That was "the team's plan seven years ago when it sought control of more than 200 acres in Fremont for a ballpark village project." Wolff said, "We have no interest in what is called Coliseum City because we do not believe that the area outside the (city's and county's holdings) is something we could develop within our lifetime." Dolich Consulting President and former A's Exec VP Andy Dolich "agreed with Wolff regarding parking garages." But he said that the Coliseum site "had room for additional development and that the A's could still pursue it at a later point if the team obtained ownership of the site" (OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 2/27).
