Buyers of Los Alamitos Expect Zoning Approval

he president of an Orange County development company that has an agreement to buy Los Alamitos Race Course for $100 million expressed confidence Tuesday that his group would receive commercial zoning approval, which is the most important condition of the tentative sale.

“The prospects of getting the zoning are excellent, and we’re excited,” said Gary Hamilton, who heads SDC Development, a Newport Beach limited partnership that builds industrial parks and shopping centers.

SDC signed a letter of agreement four months ago, and on Tuesday Hollywood Park announced a deal based on details that had been reported earlier. SDC will pay $95 million in cash for Los Alamitos, spend $5 million in capital improvements to the property and lease the track, at $3.5 million per year, to Hollywood Park for race meetings there through 2001.

The Los Alamitos property consists of 140 acres that can be used for racing and another 160 acres that could be developed commercially.

Hollywood Park, which also runs race meetings at its track in Inglewood, has had serious financial problems in recent years. Hollywood bought Los Alamitos in 1984 for $57 million and, according to General Manager Don Robbins, has a current debt of approximately $90 million.

“If this sale goes through, it would ease a substantial burden,” Robbins said.

Hollywood Park recently received relief from its major lender, which reduced the interest rate from five to two points over the prime rate and extended the due date on the note by six months, to next June 15.

Both Robbins and Hamilton said that the deal couldn’t be consummated until early next year, providing they can obtain zoning approval from the voters of Cypress, where the track is located.

“There’s a group there that is against any development, but we feel that we can overcome that,” Hamilton said. “It’s not my position to speak about what’s happened before, but we feel that we’re going to proceed in the zoning matter in a more professional way than what was tried in the past. We have no intention of bringing any blight to the community and we have a plan for retail offices and industrial development that would take five or six years.”