Vikings deal for Star Tribune land

(AP) - The Minnesota Vikings are on the verge of buying prime Star Tribune-related land near the Metrodome, the newspaper reported Friday based on anonymous sources.

The $45 million purchase of land on four city blocks would further the team's long-held goal of erecting a new football stadium. The deal reportedly could be finalized within days by Vikings owner Zygi Wilf and Avista Capital Partners, the new owners of the newspaper.

The parcels now include surface parking lots used by the paper and an older warehouse facility. The published report said the agreement gives the Vikings first crack at the paper's main office building if that is sold down the line.

The report signals the Vikings' push for a new stadium is intensifying.

"If the Vikings purchased the Star Tribune land around the Metrodome, that would be Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 1A with an exclamation point," said Bill Lester, executive director of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, the owners of the Metrodome. "The Legislature would know instantly that Zygi Wilf means business."

Lester called the newspaper's land holdings "integral" to the area.

Lester Bagley, a Vikings vice president, and OhSang Kwon, a partner with Avista, both told the newspaper that no deal had been reached.

"I can confirm we've had conversations with Avista Capital Partners," Bagley told The Associated Press on Friday. "Who knows what's going to happen."

Kwon did not immediately return a call from the AP.

The Vikings are under lease at the Metrodome through 2011, but for almost a decade they have been pursuing authorization and public subsidies toward a new stadium. The team turned its focus to downtown Minneapolis after flirting with the possibility of a suburban Anoka County stadium.

Avista, a private equity firm based in New York, bought the state's largest newspaper in March and immediately embarked on a series of cost-cutting moves. What impact the potential land deal would have on the newspaper wasn't clear.

Wilf, a real-estate developer based in New Jersey, previously disclosed he had paid $5 million to buy three other parking lots near the Metrodome, which together comprise less than three city blocks.

While Wilf has sketched out a vision for revitalize the area near the Metrodome, he hasn't detailed how it would be paid for or how much taxpayer money would be involved.