Ice Rink Site Could Net Funds for Koll Center

The city of Anaheim and the Walt Disney Co. have selected a downtown site for a proposed jointly built ice rink that could be a major boost for the Koll Center office complex next door.

The rink, which would serve as a practice site for the Mighty Ducks hockey team, would be built on a three-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Lincoln Avenue and Clementine Street under the preliminary proposal outlined to the City Council.

Now, the city and Disney are planning to enter negotiations to see how the costs of the complex would be divided, said Community Development Director Elisa Stipkovich. Although details must be worked out, the basic concept calls for the city to contribute the land and for Disney to pay for the building.

A Disney Development Co. spokeswoman said she could not comment on the discussions.

A major beneficiary of a deal would be the Koll Co., which envisions the Disney ice rink as the magnet that could draw shoppers to stores within its adjacent Koll Center Anaheim. Although the center is well developed as an office complex, the ice rink could help spark further retail development there.

“I can’t think of many people you would rather work with than Disney,” said Richard M. Ortwein, president of the Koll Real Estate Group in Newport Beach.

Koll relinquished its development rights to the three-acre site as its part of the deal. In return, the rink could make the site a popular meeting place even though it is not close to any freeways. “We have to have a reason for people to come,” Ortwein said, and ice skating could be one.

Disney sees the ice rink as not only a training site for the Mighty Ducks, but also as a center that could be used to interest youths--many of them from disadvantaged neighborhoods--in hockey.

“It will involve youth, the community and hockey,” said Kenneth P. Wong, senior vice president for Disney Development, last month.

The rink issue was brought Tuesday before the City Council so it could formally approve Koll’s relinquishment of its development right on the three-acre parcel.

The Mighty Ducks have been practicing at the Glacial Garden Ice Arena in Anaheim, a two-rink facility that opened about 15 months ago. Managers have said they would love to keep the team but say Disney officials have complained that its ceiling is too low.