Track Owners Downsize Plan for Entertainment Complex

The owners of Santa Anita Park in Arcadia have asked the city to change the land-use designation for the horse racing track’s south parking lot to allow for commercial development and will resurrect recently abandoned plans for an entertainment complex on a smaller scale if the request is approved.

Santa Anita Realty Enterprises, citing community opposition and financial exposure, withdrew its application for a 1.5-million-square-foot complex in the parking lot last month. But now it wants to be able to develop up to two-thirds of that area.

Sherwood C. Chillingworth, company vice chairman, said Santa Anita will submit a new plan for an entertainment village, similar to Irvine’s glitzy Spectrum Entertainment Center, if the City Council and Planning Commission agree to adopt the commercial-entertainment land-use designation for a chunk of the 120-acre parking lot.

“We have spent several millions [of dollars] on this project. We’re reluctant to spend a lot more money without an indication of community, staff and council support,” Chillingworth said.

An Arcadia citizens group has turned in an initiative petition that, if it qualifies for the November ballot, would let city voters decide whether they should approve any change to the track’s land use.

“These track guys don’t go away,” said Robert Ellison, leader of Neighbors for Arcadia, which opposes development of the track. “They are going for the whole hog. They never really dropped this project.”

Ellison said the City Council will lose the power to change land-use designations. If his group’s petition is validated by the city clerk, who has until June 19 to count signatures, the council would be prohibited from making any changes before the election, Ellison said.

Chillingworth said any new proposal will only involve Santa Anita and not a joint venture partner as originally planned.

“The real partnership should be between the constituency and us. An outside partner would push for what’s economically beneficial, but wouldn’t fit what Arcadia wants,” Chillingworth said. “We are responsible citizens. We want to do what’s compatible with the ambience of the city.”

Any new project, Chillingworth said, would start smaller and be built slower because the track owner would be the sole backer. He said it would not be like CityWalk but will be similar to Irvine’s center, a 250,000-square-feet complex with huge screens, 21 theaters and nearly as many restaurants and coffeehouses.

The Planning Commission is reviewing Santa Anita’s land use as part of efforts to update Arcadia’s general plan. The City Council will then take up the plan.