It looks like the San Jose Earthquakes will finally get their stadium. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Quakes owner Lew Wolff reached an agreement with the city to buy the land near the San Jose airport on which he would build an 18,000-seat stadium and accompanying retail, office and hotel space. Terms of the deal must still be formally approved by the city council.
“If and when we pull it off, it is going to make me feel — well, at my age, that would be a great accomplishment,” Wolff, a real estate developer and owner of the MLB’s Oakland Athletics, told the Merc. “It would cap off a long time of development in San Jose.” The stadium deal was also perceived as a win by San Jose-area leaders, who as a result of the agreement will see at least $17 million funneled into the city’s debt-wracked general fund.
Under the terms of the deal, Wolff and his partners would pay $132 million for 66 acres from the former FMC manufacturing plant. About 18 acres would be set aside for the soccer stadium and parking. Wolff and his partners would have until 2010 to pay the bulk of the $132 million; the city bought the land in 2005 for $81 million. Wolff’s team will also pay about $12 million in interest the city accrued in issuing municipal bonds to buy the land three years ago. The developer plans to pay for the project through the sale of 78 acres he own Edenvale. Wolff wants to build 1,500 townhouses on the land, but first needs to the city to rezone the commercial and industrial property as residential.