Anaheim is looking at condo plan on NFL site
A 50-acre plot touted as the possible site for a professional football team stadium could instead become home to condominiums, a hotel and low-cost housing units, Anaheim officials said Saturday.
The proposal from SunCal Cos. for the Platinum Triangle is one of several the city has received since announcing that after two years of wrangling with the National Football League, it would entertain developers’ ideas for the land.
Details of other proposals were not made available to The Times.
SunCal’s $80-million plan values the land in the Platinum Triangle, a planned high-density residential and commercial hub, at $30 million more than the city’s own appraisal.
“I believe the City Council is sending a strong message to the NFL that we’re serious about further development,” Councilman Richard Chavez said. “If we don’t hear from them, I’m sure council is ready to move forward without them.”
A spokesman for the NFL could not be reached for comment. SunCal’s pitch comes just weeks after NFL owners said that bringing a team to the Los Angeles area was no longer a top priority. Their statement coincided with the release of new estimates indicating that the cost of building or renovating a stadium in Los Angeles or Anaheim could top $1 billion.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is the other top contender for the region’s first football team since the Rams and Raiders decamped in the mid-1990s. Last week, Coliseum officials cut back on their spending for a lobbyist and outside counsel to help court the NFL.
In Anaheim, SunCal’s plan -- recently revised at the city’s request -- would include a 1-million-square-foot financial and business district and a 350,000-square-foot retail and entertainment area.
About 1,300 housing units would be interspersed among a 450-room hotel, a professional youth sports training facility, a civic plaza, a public arts promenade and a community theater.
The fact that 15% of the units would be designated as affordable housing could pique the council’s interest, Chavez and Councilwoman Lorri Galloway said.
This summer, the council gave initial approval to a separate SunCal plan to build 200 affordable rental units and 1,300 condominiums inside Anaheim’s resort district near Disneyland, hoping it would help ease the city’s housing crunch.
SunCal consultant Frank Elfend said the company expects comment by month’s end from Anaheim officials, who, he said, seem “very interested” in the proposal for the 50 acres within the Angels Stadium parking lot.
“It would still be a good idea to have an NFL stadium,” Galloway said, “but what’s not a good idea is to wait forever. We can’t wait for the NFL so long that this highly valuable land goes stagnant.”
ashley.powers@latimes.com
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