City of Big Dreams Has Grand Plans : Development: After defections and delays, Anaheim looks to expand sports, entertainment and convention facilities.

For decades, this has been a city led by dreamers.

They plunged ahead when naysayers contended ambitious projects like an arena and a stadium would fail and that a theme park named Disneyland would never fly.

Now, city leaders are once again dreaming big.

During the first few months of 1996, Anaheim and Walt Disney Co. are expected to unveil expansion and development plans for three of the area’s most important attractions: Disneyland, Anaheim Stadium and the Convention Center.

City Manager James D. Ruth, who has been spending much of his time in strategy meetings lately, described this as a “tremendous” time for Anaheim.

“There are incredible opportunities for us. For most communities, any one of these projects would be a very big deal,” Ruth said recently.

In January, the city will unveil its plans for an entertainment and retail complex on land around the Big A that will probably include hotels, a renovated baseball stadium and also leave room for a football stadium, should the city attract a team to replace the Rams.

The following month, city leaders also will be presented with designs for a major expansion of the Convention Center in an effort to make it more competitive with larger facilities in other parts of the country.

And finally, nearly a year after it pulled the plug on a proposed $3-billion resort project, Walt Disney Co. is expected to reveal a new, scaled-down version of an expansion project next to Disneyland.

“Probably in no previous time in the city’s history have such major projects been planned or underway at all three locations,” Mayor Tom Daly said. “One reason we are seeing progress in all three projects is that to a certain extent, each enhances the other two.”

All three projects are seen as crucial if Anaheim is to maintain its reputation as a mecca for tourism and professional sports.

“We’ve got an opportunity to do things in Anaheim that haven’t been done since Disney came here in the 1950s,” said Councilman Bob Zemel. “What went on two or three decades ago to put the city on the map is no longer sufficient.”

First on the agenda is the 125-acre sports and entertainment complex around the Big A that has been unofficially dubbed “SportsTown.”

City leaders said they are eager to take full advantage of the stadium property, which is blessed with superior freeway access and an Amtrak train station.

Officials have remained tight-lipped about the project, which consultants have been developing for almost a year. But trendy restaurants, stores and a virtual-reality entertainment center are among the possibilities that have been discussed.

How the city might finance the project has not been determined, but officials said they do not expect to have to foot the bill.

“The beauty of all of this is that this city feels we can do it with private development and absolutely no use of public funds,” Zemel said.

The Walt Disney Co.’s partial purchase of the California Angels--announced in May and expected to be finalized soon--likely means that the entertainment giant will have major influence on the project. Disney officials have been a part of planning meetings, sources said.

It was Disney that dealt a blow to the region’s tourism industry in January when it decided against building a massive resort next to Disneyland, opting for a scaled-down version instead that might be built incrementally.

The original project was unveiled in 1991 and called for 4,600 new hotel rooms, a separate park, a 5,000-seat amphitheater, a six-acre lagoon and two of the nation’s largest parking structures.

The new project was supposed to be announced last spring but the unveiling has continually been delayed. Now, Disney officials will only say that they will make an announcement by the end of March or sooner.

“We’re very excited about what’s being developed,” said Disneyland Resort Spokesman Tom Brocato. “We want it to be right. A lot of time, energy and planning are going into what we will present.”

The scaled-down project is said to have a price tag of approximately $1.7 billion, sources said. Brocato declined to discuss the cost of the project.

One of the possibilities is that Disney will build a nightclub and shopping complex outside the gates of Disneyland that would be modeled after the company’s popular Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World in Florida. The aim would be to draw local residents as well as out-of-town tourists.

“I think there is a need for more retail and entertainment opportunities for tourists in the Anaheim area,” Daly said. “I think Disney’s expansion will fill most of that need. But it remains to be seen exactly what their expansion will be.”

Regardless of what Disney does, the city has continued to move forward with a $174-million revitalization plan aimed at improving the decaying area around Disneyland and the Convention Center.

That project is being paid for in part by a 2% increase in the city’s hotel occupancy tax. The tax, now at 15%, will also help pay for the proposed expansion of the Convention Center, located across the street from Disneyland.

The Convention Center expansion, while not generating as much public excitement as the stadium or Disney projects, is seen as one of the key elements in keeping the city competitive in the tourist market, officials said.

“The economics of conventions is really dramatic,” said Greg Smith, general manager of the Convention Center and Anaheim Stadium. “Dollars spent by conventioneers feeds into hotels and local businesses. It’s money coming in from the outside.”

Last summer, one of the nation’s top accounting firms recommended that the facility be expanded to 1.3 million square feet from 800,000 square feet. The dome-shaped landmark is already one of the largest facilities of its kind in the nation with five exhibit halls and a 9,000-seat arena.

The study, completed by Coopers & Lybrand, said that the $35 million in yearly tax revenue the Convention Center generates would increase to $42.3 million after the expansion. With no expansion, tax revenue would drop to $26.7 million because fewer conventions would be booked, according to the study.

To create a blueprint for the expansion, the City Council spent $1.2 million last month to hire the architectural firm of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, which was responsible for designing The Pond in Anaheim as well as Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami and the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.

Smith said the firm will present three conceptual plans to the council in early February. City officials must then decide how big of an expansion they can afford.

With these three projects gaining steam and the city continuing its aggressive efforts to land another National Football League team, the mood at City Hall is decidedly more upbeat compared to a year ago when the county bankruptcy cast an ominous shadow over many of the city’s dreams.

Anaheim had placed $169 million in the county’s investment pool, which collapsed last December. Anaheim is still $17 million short because of the collapse but has pressed on with all of its major projects.

“In spite of the bankruptcy, we hired 31 new police officers,” Ruth said proudly. “To have all of this going on, along with the possibility of getting NFL football again . . . makes us very proud.”

Some folks still miss the Flying Saucers at Disneyland, where nostalgia is as inevitable as progress.

CALENDAR, Page 3