The Dodgers today plan to unveil their most extensive stadium renovation yet, a project that would transform the area behind the outfield to an entrance promenade featuring restaurants, shops, club offices and a Dodgers museum and add two parking garages to help replace the 2,000 spaces lost to construction.
In a letter sent Wednesday to season-ticket holders, owner Frank McCourt and President Jamie McCourt said the improvements would "give the stadium a chance to remain viable and perhaps see its 100th birthday."
The Dodgers would not confirm the project cost or other specifics, but a news release from the office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa put the cost at $500 million. The McCourts purchased the Dodgers -- and their stadium and surrounding parking lot -- for $430 million four years ago.
The McCourts' letter did not detail the renovations, but the plan would enact a vision Frank McCourt outlined when he bought the team in 2004 -- to transform at least part of the parking lot into an area offering dining and shopping for fans who arrive early and stay late, avoiding pregame and postgame traffic.
The Dodgers would generate additional revenue as well, not only on game days but from year-round use of the new facilities. The Dodgers briefed civic leaders and community groups this week on the project, targeted for completion in 2012.
City Councilman Ed Reyes, whose district includes Dodger Stadium, said the project would surround the ballpark with a ring of greenery, with parks and plazas "almost like a campus setting," so fans could walk from a garage onto a tree-lined walkway leading to an entrance, or to the retail cluster.
"They are not just dropping a box in a middle of a parking lot," Reyes said.
The garages could present a challenge to fans who complained last year after the Dodgers altered longtime parking and traffic rules. The Angels sued the city of Anaheim over proposed development of their stadium parking lot two decades ago, arguing that fans preferred surface-level parking to multi-level garages. (The Angel Stadium garages never were built.)
However, according to a source familiar with the project, the Dodger Stadium garages would have tiered entrances and exits to ease traffic flow, with new underground parking complementing the garages.
Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. In their letter, the McCourts said they were committed to the stadium "for the long haul" but made it clear it could not survive deep into the new century without these new attractions.
