Dodger Bidder Would Raze Stadium, Put One Downtown

Yet moving Dodger Stadium and building a mix of high-end, mid-range and affordable housing on the 300-acre hilltop where the ballpark now stands would overshadow anything else he has done. If successful, Casden could help spur the renaissance of downtown L.A. while giving Chavez Ravine a chance to capture something of its pre-1950s character: a collection of homes surrounded by the green of Elysian Park.

The way things pencil out, according to Casden, it could all be achieved without public subsidy (save, perhaps, for tax credits from the city that are available for the construction of low-income housing).

In essence, he said, the money he could make from developing housing in the neighborhood would be enough to finance a new stadium. Real estate experts have valued Chavez Ravine land at about $1 million an acre.

Casden said he also foresaw putting money into sprucing up Elysian Park as part of a broad upgrade to the neighborhood. He added that the area could also accommodate a new public school.

At the same time, the prospect of bulldozing the Dodgers' home of more than four decades doesn't trouble Casden, though he has been attending games there since it opened in 1962 and has seen such history on the field as a no-hitter thrown by beloved Dodger pitcher Sandy Koufax.

"They knock down stadiums all the time," Casden said. "Dodger Stadium is not an antique. It's not Frank Lloyd Wright. It's a nice place to play baseball, but there are far better."

If fact, as far as Casden is concerned, Dodger Stadium has a wide range of drawbacks. Among them: convoluted parking lots; a poor seating plan; and a location inconvenient for both fans and long-suffering Chavez Ravine residents, who complain about the traffic, noise and litter in their neighborhood.

Still, that doesn't mean the locals would necessarily greet Casden with open arms. Told of the developer's plans, Virginia Pinedo, a third-generation denizen of the neighborhood, expressed skepticism about Casden and his motives.

"I'm not real hot on the idea" of getting rid of Dodger Stadium and putting up more housing, she said. "I don't think he's going to invite back all the families that moved out of Chavez Ravine" for a 1950s public housing project that was never built, making room for the stadium.

"He'll have a big fight on his hands," she added.

Though his offer to buy the Dodgers is not contingent on being able to relocate the stadium downtown, Casden has already quietly broached the idea with public officials.