Developers Plan Anaheim Arena for NBA Team

The former owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers joined a group of developers and Anaheim officials Friday in announcing plans for building a $40-million, 20,000-seat sports arena next to Anaheim Stadium in an effort to attract a professional basketball team.

Former Cavalier owner Nick Mileti said at a press conference in front of Anaheim Stadium that he has posted a $100,000 application fee and plans to take over the Westdome Partners’ bid for a National Basketball Assn. expansion franchise. Westdome Partners is the firm that wants to build the arena.

The Board of Governors of the NBA is meeting Monday and Tuesday at Phoenix to consider applications for expansion franchises. Mileti and the developers said Friday they will make a presentation Monday.

Westdome Partners signed a preliminary agreement last year with the City of Santa Ana to locate the arena there. But opposition from local residents to two proposed sites in that city caused the Santa Ana City Council to reject both.

In Anaheim, “the Westdome partnership has finally found a home,” Alan Durkovic, one of the developers involved in the venture, said Friday.

The agreement announced Friday--among the City of Anaheim, Mileti and Westdome Partners--is a preliminary one. But officials expressed optimism that construction could begin as early as next summer and the arena could be ready for the 1988-89 basketball season should the bid for a team be successful.

Before an arena can be built at the site selected in Anaheim--just northeast of State College Boulevard and Orangewood Avenue--the developers will have to buy almost 11 acres of land from four different owners.