The Cornfield, you may remember, was a lovely 32-acre public outdoor space just east of Chinatown slated to turn into the Los Angeles State Historic Park. Developers submitted and presented proposals recently, and one proposal, in particular, has fomented some commotion. Field Operations wants to build a new Dodger Stadium on the site and raze the old stadium:
Their proposal would involve razing historic Dodger Stadium and building a new, $500 million ballpark on the Cornfield site. They would transform the remaining acreage into a five-story aboveground parking lot. On its roof, a park would sit flush with Broadway and connect on its northern end to Elysian Park. The second component of their project would involve redesigning Elysian Park, adding nature walks, golf courses and soccer fields, and creating 1,000 acres of green space.The proposal surprised even the Dodgers. There were two other proposals, but those two did not include a new stadium on the site of what is supposed to be a state park. Boring. Hello? Don’t they know that a new sports stadium is the solution to every urban problem?In the stadium's place, the team described a multi-use, high-rise development perched on the bluff of Elysian Park that would include 25,000 residents, police and fire stations, and even a school. The money garnered from selling that land - estimated at $350 million - would fund the entire project.
· Park Proposals Gone Wild [LA Downtown News]