CARSON LOOKING LIKE A NO-GO SITE DEVELOPER MAKING PLANS FOR LIFE WITHOUT NFL.Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer The NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga executive overseeing the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. stadium search said Thursday that he expects at least one of the four sites to be eliminated from consideration next week when league owners meet in Washington. While Neil Glat, NFL vice president for strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. , wouldn't say which sites are on the chopping block, all signs point to Carson, where the league has spent the past two years exploring the feasibility of constructing a stadium on a 157-acre former dump site. Although the Coliseum Coliseum: see Colosseum. and Anaheim have ironed out many of the terms they've been negotiating and the Rose Bowl appears to have been given a reprieve reprieve (rĭprēv`): in law, see pardon. - for now - while the Pasadena City Council deliberates whether to go forward, the picture in Carson appears clear. ``If they dropped Carson, I don't think anybody would be surprised,'' said Steve Hopkins, the shopping-mall developer who controls the site. Hopkins and Carson officials, who have had little contact with the NFL since traveling to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of in early April, already are planning for life without the league. They met Tuesday to discuss the two site plans they're considering for a housing-retail development that would not include a stadium. Next week, while the NFL owners are meeting, they'll be at the International Conference of Shopping Centers shopping center, a concentration of retail, service, and entertainment enterprises designed to serve the surrounding region. The modern shopping center differs from its antecedents—bazaars and marketplaces—in that the shops are usually amalgamated into in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. trying to line up tenants. ``If they eliminate Carson, so be it,'' said Hopkins, who has teamed with home-builder Lennar Corp. ``I think (the NFL's) intentions are good, but (mixed use) is more what we do. We're not tying up this property to pursue a NFL team.'' The NFL and Hopkins had agreed on the framework of a deal last September, in which Hopkins would clean the site, prepare it for construction, then sell to the NFL 70 acres on which site plans allowed for a 68,000-seat stadium, hotel, five-story parking garage and 900,000 square feet of retail space that would include sports-themed restaurants. Yet Hopkins and Glat seem to agree that their projects pencil out best without each other. While parking has been raised as the main issue, it's actually more about control. There would be 15,000 parking spots available on site and another 12,000-15,000 off-site - the largest number of parking spots among the four sites. The unresolved question is who would control the revenues? ``To marry our project with Hopkins-Lennar could raise some economic challenges for us,'' Glat said. Although Carson economic development manager Ron Winkler Winkler may refer to:
``A full-scale retail development creates more direct benefit to the city than a stadium does,'' Winkler said. Also at issue are the logistical lo·gis·tic also lo·gis·ti·cal adj. 1. Of or relating to symbolic logic. 2. Of or relating to logistics. [Medieval Latin logisticus, of calculation problems of building on the site, which has stood fallow fallow a pale cream, light fawn, or pale yellow coat color in dogs. since the late 1960s. Although there have been advances in remediation techniques, the site faces a long and costly cleanup. Hopkins recently informed the NFL that a stadium wouldn't likely be ready until the 2010 season - two years behind the Coliseum and Anaheim. ``Timing in Carson is an issue,'' Glat said. ``I think we'll be able to be in the other buildings sooner. I'm not saying it's a deal-breaking issue, but our ultimate goal is to get to Los Angeles so one of the question is how quickly can we get there?'' The presentation to the owners, which will include a 30-page document detailing the pros and cons pros and cons Noun, pl the advantages and disadvantages of a situation [Latin pro for + con(tra) against] of the four sites, is expected to take place Wednesday. The owners will then give the NFL staff direction on which sites should be cut and negotiating with those that remain. Glat would not say if the staff will make a recommendation. ``The facts may argue for a recommendation, or we may make one,'' said Glat, who met in a conference call Wednesday with the owners on the L.A. committee. ``They can cut as deep as they're prepared to, based on the information they have. How far they go is going to depend on the timing of other broad strategic issues we're dealing with (the collective-bargaining agreement, the G-3 stadium-improvement loans and revenue sharing revenue sharing Funding arrangement in which one government unit grants a portion of its tax income to another government unit. For example, provinces or states may share revenue with local governments, or national governments may share revenue with provinces or states. - all likely to be discussed during the NFL meetings.).'' Glat indicated that the Rose Bowl would not be eliminated - at least not until the Pasadena City Council has had a chance to vote on whether to adopt a statement of overriding considerations to accompany the environmental-impact report it certified this week. That vote is not expected until June 6. ``I don't see the owners wanting to punish Pasadena over two weeks,'' Glat said. ``If it's six months, we've got a problem. Our preference is that it would have been done, but we've been at this a long time, and it would be unreasonable if we pushed that hard on that.'' Billy Witz, (818) 713-3621 billy.witz(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): box Box: NO THANKS |
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