Arcade in Foothill Ranch Planned : Development: Irvine firm says 20-mile inland area can handle a third family amusement center.

A developer of family amusement centers has leased six acres in the Foothill Ranch development for what would be the third miniature golf and arcade facility in a 20-mile stretch of inland South County.

Camelot Park Family Entertainment Centers, based in Irvine, plans to open Palace Park of Foothill Ranch next summer, Gerald B. Johnson, a general partner of the development company, said Monday.

The company already operates a similar seven-acre facility in Irvine at Harvard Avenue and Michelson Drive.

Camelot Park officials would not reveal the value of the deal, and making an estimate is difficult because Orange County’s commercial development industry has been moribund for nearly five years. Property owners have watched land values drop and have been forced to slash rents and help pay for tenants’ buildings in order to lease their properties.

Commercial property broker sources, however, said that a lease cost of about $200,000 a year for the 34.5-year term would not be out of line for that area.

(Because leases of 35 years or more trigger reassessment and potentially increased property taxes under California’s Proposition 13 property tax limitation measure, many commercial leases are now written for periods of 34.5 or 34.7 years.)

Foothill Ranch Co. is attempting to develop its 163-acre commercial and entertainment center rapidly to draw home buyers to the 2,743-acre, master-planned community. Because of that, observers said, Camelot was likely granted concessions that could include reduced rent in the early years.

Officials at Foothill Ranch Co. also would not comment on the lease value. The Foothill Ranch amusement center is the third to be planned for South County in the past year. In addition to Camelot’s Irvine center, an Aliso Viejo company recently won approval to build an eight-acre miniature golf and arcade facility in the Irvine Spectrum industrial area near Lake Forest, about halfway between the two Camelot-owned centers.

Johnson said his company thinks there is room for all three. “We think the marketing area is six to seven miles, so there will be plenty of people,” he said in regard to forming a customer base for each center.

In addition, the Foothill Ranch center is part of a complex of theaters, restaurants and other entertainment-oriented businesses in the 163-acre Foothill Ranch Towne Center.

Plans for Palace Park include three 18-hole miniature golf courses, two go-cart race tracks, a bumper boat pond, batting cages and a castle to house the arcade, as well as food and party facilities.