Developers Line Up for Howard Terminal Redo in Oakland

Shortly after the Oakland A’s announced they were moving to Las Vegas after half a century in Oakland, the MLB commissioner said the city had failed to propose a site for a new ballpark in the area.

Actually, Oakland spent more than a decade negotiating with the A’s owner over a plan to make a new MLB ballpark the centerpiece of a massive mixed-use project on a waterfront site at the Port of Oakland.

Now that the A’s have moved to Sacramento, where they will play until their new stadium on the Las Vegas Strip is ready, the redevelopment of Howard Terminal has become the most coveted economic development prize in Oakland.

More than 100 companies have queued up and expressed interest in redeveloping the 50-acre Howard Terminal, a former marine terminal. The Port began soliciting proposals in September, with a Dec. 9 deadline.

The list of interested players includes Prologis, Brookfield Properties and Trammell Crow as well as cleantech startup EarthGrid. The Oakland Roots Soccer Club and the Pacific Maritime Association also have signaled their interest in the site, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

A Port-led meeting and site visit last month drew 75 attendees.

“The Port is truly excited to answer so many development-related questions for Howard Terminal. These questions show that developers are engaging at a deep technical level and are putting a lot of thought into the RFQ,” said Jonathan Veach, the Port of Oakland’s chief real estate officer, in a statement.

“We are hoping for creative and innovative concepts for this exceptional site and want to partner with potential developers to contribute to Oakland’s thriving waterfront landscape,” Veach said.

The Port anticipates receiving formal applications as the Dec. 9 deadline approaches. Port officials indicated they are looking for development concepts that integrate with surrounding uses including industrial operations to the west and mixed-use entertainment in the east at Jack London Square, the report said.

The city’s exclusive negotiating agreement with Oakland A’s expired more than a year ago. In addition to a new 35,000-seat ballpark, the plans for what was called a Waterfront Ballpark District at Howard Terminal included 3,000 residential units and 1.5M square feet of commercial space as well as public amenities.

The Howard Terminal site currently is used for short-term property rental agreements including container parking, depot operations and ancillary maritime services. The site needs structural repairs as well as some environmental remediation, port officials said.

After MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred last year said Oakland had not proposed a site for a new MLB ballpark, Mayor Sheng Thao confronted the commissioner at the 2023 All-Star Game in Seattle and presented him with 31 document files detailing the proposed Waterfront Ballpark District at Howard Terminal.