12/02/08

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Walentas withdraws MLB bid

Brooklyn developer and owner David Walentas has dropped his bid to own Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals, the Washington Post reported. Walentas and his son, Jed, placed a $100,000 deposit with the league in May for the right to bid on the Nationals, the much-heralded National League franchise now owned by MLB. The franchise had moved from Montreal, where it played as the Expos, returning big-time baseball to the capital after 34 years.

A publicist for Walentas, the driving force behind the creation of Brooklyn's Dumbo neighborhood, said the developer had no comment on the Post report that quoted sources within baseball. MLB began interviewing as many as eight potential owners and ownership groups during the second week of June, and Walentas and his Washington-area investment partners were reportedly not among that number.

The league, according to Washington-area media, wants to have new owners by the end of the current season in October.