ANAHEIM : Auto Center to Get Big Electronic Sign

For more than a year, the city has been promising dealers at the Anaheim Auto Center a big bright electronic sign resembling the kind other auto malls have to help attract business.

This week, the dealers got what they wanted. The City Council approved spending almost $200,000 for the sign and it should be up within 60 days.

“It will make a whole load of difference,” said Tony Lomax, a manager of one of the dealerships in the auto mall.

The city was waiting to install the sign until more dealers moved to the center, but the Anaheim Auto Center Assn. of Dealers wanted the sign sooner. They argued that the sign would help make the center more attractive to both customers and new dealerships, both of which bring more sales tax revenue to the city.

Three dealers have moved to the center at Ball Road and the Orange Freeway since the city opened it in 1986, but there is room for four more dealers.

“I knew in my own mind there had to be a sign there,” said Dennis Hardin, a partial owner of an auto dealership that will soon be moving to the mall. “You really can’t see the place without it.”

Before moving his dealership, Hardin said, he was waiting for a number of issues to be resolved, including that of the sign. He is giving up a portion of his land to house the sign but said it’s a worthwhile exchange.

The city is buying and installing the sign, and the dealers association will be responsible for its maintainance. The non-electronic sign in front of the auto mall will be removed when the new sign is installed.