Mayor of Anaheim Announces a New Site for Sports Arena

Although the city has not yet acquired the land, Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter said Wednesday that the seven-acre Phoenix Club property north of Katella Avenue at Douglass Road will be the site of the city’s planned $85-million sports arena.

Hunter’s unbridled declaration came shortly after the Board of Supervisors agreed to lease Anaheim 17 acres along the Santa Ana River, next to the Phoenix Club land.

“It’s nothing but ‘go’ from the Phoenix Club,” Hunter said of the social organization for local German families.

Private developers of the proposed 21,000-seat arena agreed that obtaining the county lease is an important step in placing the structure northeast of Anaheim Stadium, but they cautioned that the Phoenix Club remains only one of several sites under consideration.

The county land is crucial because it could be used in combination with other sites or perhaps serve as the site for the arena itself, said Neal Papiano, a Los Angeles lawyer and spokesman for the developers.

“This is very good news, absolutely,” Papiano said of the 4-0 vote by the supervisors. “This gives us much more flexibility.”

Officials said the city’s preferred site would be a combination of the county land and the Phoenix Club parcel.

The city is trying to negotiate a land swap with the Phoenix Club in which the group’s land north of Katella Avenue would be exchanged for nine acres of city land at Weir Canyon Road and La Palma Avenue, plus relocation costs, Hunter said.

Club officials did not return calls seeking comment. However, the membership is scheduled to vote on the land swap in July, said James Ruth, Anaheim’s assistant city manager and lead arena negotiator.

The lease agreement Wednesday bolstered the hopes of Anaheim arena proponents who had suffered two serious setbacks in May:

The city of Santa Ana announced plans to build a similar arena at Edinger Avenue and Lyon Street. A spokesman for the Santa Fe Pacific Realty Corp., which owns the site, said his company has worked out a tentative agreement with developers to build the facility. The company may release details of the agreement next week, said spokesman Bruce Ibbitsen.

Then, the supervisors dumped plans to sell Anaheim 7.6 acres of county land on which the city had most wanted to build the arena. In a 3-2 vote, the board decided the land could not be sold because it had to be preserved as a possible site for a new county jail.

But Wednesday’s vote means “we’re back on track,” Hunter said. “It’s good news for the city.”

“It’s a giant milestone in the project,” added Ruth. “We’re really pleased.”

Under the 55-year lease agreement, the County Flood Control District would receive 5% of the net profit from the arena and 5% of the net profit from parking revenue. The county estimates that revenue could amount to $132 million over the life of the lease, according to a staff report.

Papiano said the Anaheim arena-development group plans to select the two best sites by the end of July so they can be included in a required environmental impact report that must be approved before the arena can be built.

The lease of county land allows the arena to be built on a number of possible sites, he said, depending on what additional land the city acquires. The options include the Phoenix Club land, the county land itself and a parcel on Douglass Street.

The supervisors’ vote in May eliminated the possibility of building the arena on the initially preferred site, the Anaheim trash-transfer station on the northwest corner of Katella and Douglass.