ANAHEIM : Cultural Arts Center May Be Reopened

The Anaheim Cultural Arts Center, closed six months ago and supposedly ticketed for the wrecking ball, may reopen next year with a new owner--the city’s arts community.

Leaders of the Anaheim Foundation for Culture and the Arts said Wednesday that they are close to a deal with the Anaheim City School District that would allow the group to purchase the 62-year-old building and reopen it.

The district, which owns the building at 931 N. Harbor Blvd., closed the center last summer, saying it would probably tear it down to expand a neighboring elementary school.

Andy Deneau, a member of the nonprofit group’s board of directors, said the deal will be completed shortly but that the selling price hasn’t been set.

He said the group has the financial backing of five local companies--Disneyland, Rockwell International, the California Angels, Fujitsu Business Communications and Yves’ Bistro--to help buy the facility and refurbish it.

“We will pay fair market value” for the building, Deneau said. “The purchase will allow us to fulfill our mission and allow the district to fulfill its mission.”

Mary Ellen Blanton, the district’s deputy superintendent, confirmed Wednesday that school officials are negotiating with representatives of the group but said no final agreement has been reached.

The elementary school district stopped using the former Horace Mann Elementary School campus more than 20 years ago because it no longer met the state’s strict earthquake standards for school buildings. It built a new Horace Mann school next door to replace it.

Shortly afterward, the city leased the old school from the district for $1 a year and turned it over to the arts community to be used as a gallery, recital hall and theater.

The arrangement continued until last July, when the school district reclaimed the center, saying its other facilities were overcrowded and that it needed the space. District officials said they would probably tear down the building and place temporary classrooms on the site.

But receiving enough money to purchase land to build a new school elsewhere might prove tempting for the district.

Officials have said they need to add five schools to the 21-school district because of overcrowding.