News of Frank McCourt's failed attempt to lure the NFL to a new stadium in the Dodger Stadium parking lot had the potential to throw both Curbed in New York and Curbed LA into a cataclysmic tizzy. McCourt had gone so far as to seek out New York real estate developer Larry Silverstein to build a massive retail and entertainment complex around the new dual-stadium Chavez Ravine, but alas McCourt wanted control of the stadium and the team, and the NFL balked. The Times reports that the McCourt team went so far as to give the plan a super-secret codename, which was wise considering the uproar that news of McCourt's move would generate.
They assigned the code name "Five Ton Gorilla" to a secret proposal to remake the landscape of sports in Los Angeles and the image of owner Frank McCourt, pitching the NFL on ditching the Coliseum for a new stadium in Chavez Ravine, and signing up with one of the nation's top real estate developers to create a retail and entertainment complex in the Dodger Stadium parking lot.... ...the Dodgers were serious enough to present a proposal that involved Larry Silverstein, a prominent New York real estate developer heading the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. Silverstein joined two Dodger executives in meeting with NFL officials, and several sources said Thursday his firm could have built all but the football stadium in a project estimated at 1 million square feet.
Now everyone's in a pissy mood about the whole deal. Councilman Ed Reyes is mad. The Mayor's not happy. And County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky probably had a good cry. Way to ruin our Christmas Mr. McCourt.
(Picture of Frank McCourt via Los Angeles Dodgers)
· Dodgers' Secret Plan for L.A.: NFL Stadium, Upscale Complex [LA Times]
· Dodgers, NFL Had Meetings [LA Times]
· McCourt squelches football rumors [Daily News]
