Disneyland-Area Motel Weighs Land Sale to L.A. Attorneys

Owners of the tiny, 26-room Sir Rudimar Motel, situated within Disney’s proposed Westcot Center expansion area, are considering selling the property to an outside group for what could amount to a whopping $142,307 per room.

Sailor Kennedy, administrative partner for the Coachman Patel partnership, said Friday that a group of Los Angeles-based attorneys--reportedly with no ties to the Walt Disney Co.--have offered about $3.7 million for the .75-acre property, which sits on the southwest border of the Disneyland parking lot.

Kennedy declined to identify who made the offer.

The nearly 30-year-old Sir Rudimar is one of several properties not under Disney’s control within an area the entertainment company has reserved for a proposed $3-billion, 470-acre expansion.

In its quest to control the land surrounding the theme park, Disney has already purchased eight small hotels on the park’s perimeter. Disney paid about $35,000 per room for one of the motel properties, .

Disney has yet to decide whether it will build a second Southern California attraction in Anaheim or Long Beach, where the company has proposed a 414-acre ocean theme park called Port Disney. A decision on the attraction’s location is not expected until the end of the year.

The reported offer for the Sir Rudimar comes after real estate analysts predicted that interest in property near Disneyland would escalate after the company announced two weeks ago its plans for a new theme park. The new park would be anchored by a giant sphere called Spacestation Earth, three new hotels, a retail district and lush public plazas.

The offer, if accepted by Coachman Patel, would be well above the average of $1 million to $1.3 million per acre paid in recent land transactions in the area.

Kennedy said he called Disney officials to inform them of the offer because he said “we would like to give them (Disney) first opportunity at buying the property.”

“We don’t want to see anything happen to their project,” Kennedy said. “We will eventually sell the ground, whether it be to this group or to some others.”

Kennedy said a decision concerning the sale is expected by early next week.

Disney officials were not available for comment Friday, but Kennedy and other sources confirmed that the company was not part of ongoing negotiations for the Sir Rudimar property. It is not known how the possible sale of the land would hamper Disney’s plans.