Westdome Developers Ready to Shift Sports Arena to Anaheim

With rejections of two Santa Ana sites behind them, the developers who want to build a $40-million sports arena known as Westdome are scheduled to announce a preliminary agreement today for a site southwest of Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim city officials said Thursday.

Sources said the domed arena, which the developers hope will attract a National Basketball Assn. franchise, is planned for privately owned property northeast of State College Boulevard and Orangewood Avenue. The land has several owners, and buildings located on the site would have to be razed to make way for an arena.

The announcement is to come just three days before the 23 NBA team owners meet in Phoenix to discuss whether to allow one or more expansion franchises into the league. Westdome Partners, made up of four county developers, is one of six groups that submitted $100,000 application fees to the NBA.

The signing of an agreement with Anaheim will give the developers--Alan Durkovic, Donald Oliphant, Ronald McMahon and Robert Osbrink--a new angle to present to the owners at their Monday meeting. A preliminary agreement between Westdome Partners and the City of Santa Ana was signed in July, 1985, but stiff opposition from Santa Ana residents led the City Council to reject two proposed sites.

Eighteen of the 23 team owners would have to give their approval for a new franchise, said league spokesman Brian McIntyre, noting that Toronto, Miami, Orlando, Minneapolis and Charlotte are also in the bidding.

“Each applicant is given about 30 minutes to make their case,” McIntyre said. “On Tuesday, the full board (of the National Basketball Assn.) will convene and take a vote on it.”

McIntyre declined to speculate on the outcome, saying only that the board’s options range from taking no action to approving all six requests for expansion teams.

Anaheim officials, who have planned an announcement for 1 p.m. today at Anaheim Stadium, declined Thursday to provide specific details but confirmed that an agreement is in the works with the Westdome Partners.

Officials contacted were enthusiastic about bringing a professional basketball team to Orange County to complement the Los Angeles Rams and the California Angels, who both play in Anaheim.

“Obviously, it’s a big boon. It completes making Anaheim the sports capital of the West,” said Councilwoman Miriam Kaywood, who declined further comment.

The arena itself, which was planned in Santa Ana for a capacity of 20,500 people, would be “a beautiful structure,” said Allan Hughes, executive director of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. He stressed that other possible uses are concerts, trade shows and ice hockey. “The possibilities are almost limitless,” he said.

Hughes echoed others in commenting on the position of Anaheim--home to Disneyland, Anaheim Stadium and a major convention center-- as a prime sports and entertainment location. “This just rounds out the package,” he said.

Despite the expected announcement, Santa Ana officials remained hopeful that they are not out of the running yet.

“First of all, I’m not willing to concede that the project is definitely going to go to a city other than Santa Ana,” said Councilman Dan Young. “They’ve got to get a firm deal.”

Durkovic, who acts as the spokesman for Westdome Partners, declined comment Thursday, saying he had promised Anaheim officials he wouldn’t talk about the agreement until the press conference today. When told that Santa Ana officials were still hopeful, he said only: “Good.”

Santa Ana Councilman John Acosta, who expressed anger at hearing about the deal from a reporter instead of city staff members, said he expects some of the same problems that confronted the project in Santa Ana will crop up in Anaheim. Residents in Santa Ana formed groups to voice their opposition to the noise, traffic and litter they feared the arena would bring.

“I would certainly encourage our staff people to make every effort to keep the Westdome in the City of Santa Ana,” Acosta said. “I would not want to see our staff people just throw in the towel and say, ‘Well, we tried.’ I think, given the opportunity to promote it first and sell it to the community, we could do it here.”

If Westdome is built in Anaheim, it will mark another in a string of lost projects for Santa Ana, said Vice Mayor P. Lee Johnson.

“I guess we’ve now joined that exclusive group of people who kept South Coast Plaza and Disney and maybe even Anaheim Stadium out of town,” Johnson said. “And the Performing Arts Center, too. I am bitterly, bitterly disappointed. This is worse than the Angels losing.”

Locations Discussed

Annika Santalahti, Anaheim assistant zoning director, said the developers had talked to Anaheim officials “a number of years ago.” She said several locations had been discussed in recent months, including a site at Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue.

Santalahti added that the project would have to go through a long process before construction could start. That probably would include an environmental impact review and at least one public hearing, she said.

Word of the possibility of another professional team coming to Anaheim was news to Rams spokesman Pete Donovan and Angels Vice President Mike Schreter, who said Thursday they first heard of the plans from a reporter.

“Generally speaking, the Rams will be very happy to have another major sporting attraction in the area,” Donovan said.

“I’m surprised that the city has gone so far in negotiations without discussing it with us,” Schreter said. “We really have no comment until we see the details, but if the city staff works in a vacuum, that’s very disappointing.”

Lawsuit Being Tried

The Angels have filed a $100-million lawsuit against Anaheim to halt development of high-rise office towers and parking structures on part of the Anaheim Stadium parking lot. The suit now is being tried in Orange County Superior Court.

The preliminary agreement for Westdome in Santa Ana was first announced July 2, 1985, when a plan to build it downtown southwest of Civic Center Drive and Flower Street was unveiled. City officials proposed razing Santa Ana Stadium, a structure used for high school and college football, to make way for the arena. Later, they said a replacement stadium would be constructed in Centennial Park at Fairview Street and Edinger Avenue.

In November, Westdome Partners put in its application for an NBA franchise. In the next month, a city-commissioned study picked the site as the best location, and the council approved a private bond sale to finance the project.

By January, however, the City Council had voted to eliminate the downtown site under pressure from neighborhood groups. Undaunted, the developers attempted to negotiate a deal for an alternative site while a city-appointed commission studied several possibilities.

When the commission selected Main Street and MacArthur Boulevard as the best location, residents there also rose up in opposition. In June, Oliphant said that site also would be rejected, and that the developers would try to find a location within an industrial area.

Apparent Failure

Those efforts apparently failed.

One potential site owned by Santa Fe Pacific Realty Corp. was discussed but no deal could be arranged. “That deal is pretty much over,” said Santa Fe Realty spokesman Jim Young.

Ron Heicke, a Santa Ana resident who led one group opposed to the construction of a downtown arena, said he will be sorry if the city loses the arena but is not convinced that the Anaheim deal is final.

“Just because they’re announcing it in Anaheim doesn’t mean it’s going to go through,” he said. “The voters are going to have the same questions that we in Santa Ana did.”