Plans for Rival Arena in Santa Ana Disclosed : City Announces Private Venture for Pro Sports Site as County Nears Vote on Anaheim Proposal

With the Board of Supervisors poised to vote on a proposal that could clear the way for a sports arena in neighboring Anaheim, Santa Ana officials Tuesday announced the revival of plans to build a similar facility for their own city.

Santa Ana’s 20,000-seat arena would be built on 17 acres at Edinger Avenue and Lyon Street, near Century High School in an industrial and business park owned by the Santa Fe Pacific Realty Corp.

Santa Ana officials said they hope that the private effort to build such an arena would lure new or existing professional sports franchises to the city.

‘In Agreement’

“We have discussed the project for some time, and we’re in agreement on the concept,” Santa Ana City Manager David N. Ream said Tuesday. “We think it would be of financial benefit. . . . But more importantly, we think it’s a wonderful amenity for the residents of this community and the county at large.”

Anaheim city officials scoffed at the prospect of a sports arena in Santa Ana.

“At this late juncture, I don’t know what Santa Ana is up to,” Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter said.

“We’re a couple of years into this and about ready to wrap things up,” he said of his city’s proposed arena deal.

Santa Ana, Hunter said, missed its opportunity in 1985, when plans to build the Westdome sports arena were defeated by neighborhood foes.

“They didn’t do anything,” Hunter said about Santa Ana officials. “Now, they’re talking about having this agreement to agree. They have a long process to go.”

In fact, the plans to build an arena in Santa Ana are still conceptual, with no financing or ownership group yet lined up. Anaheim, by contrast, has all the elements in place to build the arena--except for an arena site, property along the Santa Ana River that is owned by the county and has been identified as a potential jail site.

Santa Fe Pacific project manager Bruce Ibbetson said his company wants either to lease or sell the Santa Ana parcel to a group that would build and manage a sports arena.

“Neither the city of Santa Ana nor Santa Fe . . . want an equity role in the project,” Ibbetson said.

But exactly who would build and own such an arena is unclear. Spectacor Management Group, a Philadelphia-based company that manages stadiums and arenas throughout the country--including the Sports Arena and Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles--has been contracted by Santa Fe Pacific to put together a management group, Ibbetson said.

But Spectacor Vice President Don Webb gave no clues Tuesday about such a group: “We have a whole range of options. It could be a private partnership. It could be done a number of ways . . . (including) involving the city.”

Santa Ana City Manager Ream said his city has not been asked to participate by Spectacor or Santa Fe Pacific, either as a partner or by subsidizing road and other improvements that may be needed.

“It is a private venture,” Ream said of the arena plan. “They (Santa Fe Pacific) already own the property. They don’t need to buy a jail site or any other site with a public subsidy to be able to move forward.”

That comment was an apparent swipe at Anaheim, which has offered the county $8 million for the potential jail site at Katella Avenue and Douglass Road, where city officials want to build a 21,000-seat sports arena.

The county is scheduled to vote on that offer possibly as early as Tuesday. Two of five county supervisors--Don R. Roth and Thomas F. Riley--have said they would support the Anaheim plan if the County Administrative Office recommends the purchase. The other three supervisors have been noncommittal.

Santa Fe Pacific’s and Santa Ana’s timing offers supervisors a way to vote against the proposed land sale without killing the idea of a sports arena in Orange County.

But Ibbetson denied that the announcement was timed to derail Anaheim’s proposal.

“It’s just a statement that a very viable alternative exists to the one site,” Ibbetson said. “They’ve been public every step of the way. We’ve been quietly pursuing this, longer than Anaheim. We felt that if there was a chance, it would have to be known publicly that there is an alternative.”

Ibbetson said he has been talking quietly with Sanat Ana about the project for about 2 years, during which time his company has done an about-face.

“At first, we didn’t want it for the obvious negative reasons,” said Ibbetson, citing traffic and increased security needs. “But our analysis over the last couple of years has led us to a decision that it’s a very viable project.”

In fact, the Santa Fe Pacific site was the second choice on a list of 20 possible arena sites created by a Santa Ana residents committee in 1985, when the city was embroiled in a battle over where to build Westdome. Proposals to build the arena downtown and at MacArthur Boulevard and Main Street failed because of stiff opposition from residents.

Westdome partners talked with Santa Fe Pacific about building the arena in the industrial park but were unable to strike a deal, so arena proponents eventually turned their attention to Anaheim.

Anaheim Mayor Hunter said that is where the attention should stay.

“I think if a prospective NBA (National Basketball Assn.) team comes to this area, it doesn’t take a Solomon to figure it out,” he said. “They’d rather come to Anaheim, not Santa Ana. We’re centrally located, the sports capital of Orange County.”

Santa Ana Councilman John Acosta conceded that the California Angels, the Los Angeles Rams and Disneyland all give Anaheim a more identifiable profile than Santa Ana’s.

But it’s time for that to change for Santa Ana, he said. “We are the county seat, and we need something that will make that statement.”

Neil Papiano, a Los Angeles lawyer who heads the partnership that would build the Anaheim arena, has said his group has had serious discussions with professional basketball and ice hockey franchises.

Spectacor’s Webb refused to comment when asked whether his company had talked with any sports franchises about coming to Santa Ana. One of the company’s clients is the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team, which plays in the Spectacor-managed Sports Arena in Los Angeles.

But Clippers president Donald K. Sterling, who said earlier this year that he had been offered $30 million to move his team to Anaheim, said emphatically Tuesday that the Clippers would not play in Orange County anytime soon.

“The Los Angeles Clippers are going to play in Los Angeles,” Sterling said. “I’ve had no discussions with them (Sports Arena managers Spectacor) on coming down there.”

Anaheim officials said their arena could survive without a pro sports franchise as an anchor tenant, but it would probably not make money.

Santa Fe Pacific spokesman Ibbetson said his company considers a sports franchise a necessity.

“There’s no question that this center needs to have an anchor tenant, and NBA team, or hockey or whatever,” Ibbetson said, adding that Spectacor is “dealing with those issues.”

And while some sources involved with plans for one arena or the other speculated that there might be room for two such arenas in the county, Ibbetson left little doubt that he believes that is probably not the case.

“Any logical person knows that there will only be one dome in the county,” Ibbetson said. “No one wants to play second fiddle. . . . If (Anaheim backers) can do it better and quicker, then we’ll back off. . . . But there’s an awful long road ahead of them, as well.”

Times staff writer Lonn Johnston contributed to this story.

COMPARISON OF PROPOSED ARENAS

Anaheim Proposal

ARENA

Cost: $85 million.

Seating: 21,000; 80 luxury suites; special box seating.

Parking: About 7,000 cars.

Site size: 7.6 acres.

FINANCING

Anaheim has offered the county $8 million to buy land for the site, which is still listed on county books as the site for a maximum security jail. The city is also negotiating with the county to lease two nearby parcels totaling 22 acres for parking.

Nederlander Organization and Ogden Foods, both New York-based firms, would form a partnership to finance and build the arena, then deed it to the city in return for a 30-year operating agreement. The group and the city would share profits. Division of the profits has not been decided.

Santa Ana Proposal

ARENA

Cost: $75 million.

Seating: 20,000; 1,000 prestige seats; 50 luxury boxes.

Parking: About 6,500 cars.

Site size: 17 acres.

FINANCING

Santa Fe Pacific Realty has contracted with Spectacor, a Philadelphia-based group that manages the L.A. Sports Arena and many other arenas and coliseums throughout the country, to form an investment and management group to build and operate the arena. Santa Fe Pacific and the city of Santa Ana say they do not intend to be partners in the project. Spectacor declined to say who it is negotiating with.