Chapman Buys Land Near Campus

Ensuring the relocation of its law school from Anaheim to its campus here, Chapman University has agreed to buy 4.2 acres of land from the Orange Unified School District.

“This definitely means we are moving to Orange,” Law School Dean Jeremy Miller said. “We are very fortunate to look ahead and see the law school will soon be integrated with the rest of the university. It will be lovely home for us.”

The property, once a possible target for high-density residential development, could house the law school or provide the university the flexibility to fit a new law school building on the main campus, university officials said. The land is off Glassell Street, to the west of the existing campus.

The school district will receive $2.4 million for the property and three existing buildings, including one that dates from 1920 with a Spanish facade that has earned it placement in the National Register of Historic Sites and Places.

The announcement drew mostly praise from officials in Orange, who have wondered for several years what would become of the school district parcel and in what direction the university would next expand.

There was also competition from Garden Grove and Anaheim for the law school, which opened its doors this past fall to its first class of 210 students.

Orange Mayor Joanne Coontz applauded the deal. “It is good for the city,” she said. “We wanted to see the law school in Orange.”

Coontz and preservationists indicated that the university’s expansion to the west, which could include industrial areas beyond the school property near the railroad tracks, was preferable to previous expansions in tree-lined residential areas to the east.

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Shannon Tucker, past president of the Old Towne Preservation Assn., said making the old school site part of the campus is welcome news, though her group worries about what will be built there and the fate of the historic building.

“Previously, they have bought up some homes [to the east] for expansion,” she said. “They have a lot of political power in the county and the city.”

Both Tucker and a member of the school board said they had seen architectural renderings of the site for Chapman and the historic building was not a part of the plan.

Orange School District Trustee James Fearns said plans he saw showed a large parking structure on the site. Fearns, who was the only trustee to oppose the sale, said it would cost the district between $2.6 million and $2.9 million to relocate existing facilities.

Currently, the site has two active buildings--the school district’s media and training center, and a warehouse. The district stopped using the historic building as its administrative headquarters three years ago because of seismic instability.

It will probably be two years before the law school can move to Orange, Miller said.

The school is seeking accreditation with the American Bar Assn., and Miller said the biggest obstacle has been lack “of a permanent, owned facility.” Tuition is about $18,000 a year.

Chapman President James Doti and university trustees will decide where to put the law school, said Ruth Wardwell, a university spokeswoman.

“I can’t say the [historic] building is doomed,” Wardwell said.

Also contributing to this report was Times correspondent Lesley Wright.