Developer Mark Hall pulled the plug on a proposed downtown Concord (CA) mixed-use development built around an 18,000-seat USL East Bay stadium plan, due partly to doubts about how the coronavirus pandemic would impact pro sports in years to come.
The stadium would have been located near an existing BART Station and anchor a larger mixed-use development that could include residences, a hotel, offices, and a convention center.
The city and Hall Equities Group had been in the midst of an 18-month negotiating period over the scope of the project, with Hall Equities Group working up a feasibility plan. The coronavirus pandemic added a new level of uncertainty to the planning process, but Hall said there were plenty of obstacles in dealing with local and state officials. There was the chance the downtown land would not be available for a new development, with the state’s Surplus Land Act imposing a preference on affordable-housing projects, rather than developments built around a sports facility. From Bay City News Service:
Mark Hall, president and CEO of Hall Equities Group, said Wednesday that while the uncertainties of a world with the COVID-19 coronavirus would have delayed and complicated the project in any event, other factors in dealing with the city cropped up over time that also helped drive the decision to end the project – at least in Concord.
Mark Hall, president and CEO of Hall Equities Group, said Wednesday that while the uncertainties of a world with the COVID-19 coronavirus would have delayed and complicated the project in any event, other factors in dealing with the city cropped up over time that also helped drive the decision to end the project – at least in Concord.
“I’m not really sure what Concord wants to do,” Hall said. “We spent a lot of money and good faith, but it didn’t work out.
“Even if we’d been on track (with the city) it would be a couple of years before breaking ground,” Hall said.
Hall was previously linked to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum site, where he pitched a proposal that could include a new soccer-specific stadium as part of a larger development concept.
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