Design Intervention

With the renovation of Anaheim Stadium underway and plans afoot to build the Sportstown complex next door, city officials foresee a renaissance of development activity in the stadium area.

To accommodate future proposals for the area, the city is developing a master land-use plan and preparing an environmental impact report for what that plan would entail.

“We want to have development guidelines in place so when someone wants to come in, it will cut the time and expense,” Anaheim associate planner Greg McCafferty said.

With the master plan and preliminary environmental impact reports expected to be in place by this summer, the time for processing of permits and final environmental reports will be held to a minimum, clearing the way for more rapid private development.

City planners are also examining ways of linking the stadium area with the expanded Anaheim Convention Center and the second Disney theme park just two miles away.

“The objective of the stadium plan is to have both a transportation and aesthetic link to the Anaheim resort, since that plan is off and running. We want to make a logical connection to both activity areas,” McCafferty said.

The master plan for the triangular, 640-acre area--bounded by Cerritos Avenue and the Santa Ana and Orange freeways--will include guidelines for landscaping, public improvements and street beautification.

Existing land uses include light-industrial, office, restaurant and service establishments, but the master plan will identify other land-use opportunities for the area.

“The current thinking on the zoning is we’re not trying to chase away [existing] viable businesses,” McCafferty said. “If we have an industrial user who wants to remain, that’s perfectly fine with the city. But if there’s a strategic property on Katella, or next to one of the sporting venues, we want to have everything in place so they can [change the intended land use] if they choose to build retail, entertainment and office uses.”

Already, developers are asking about the area’s future or have submitted development plans, and some existing businesses are planning upgrades.

“There’s a tremendous amount of excitement about the area,” said Planning Director Joel H. Fick. “We’re getting calls on a daily basis from people interested in development.”

Fick added that the master plan will “afford great opportunities for vacant and underutilized parcels that exist in the stadium area.”

Among establishments hoping to cash in on growth in the area is the Catch restaurant, across from the stadium’s main entrance. For 18 years, the restaurant has catered to sports fans. And now, with the $100-million renovation of the stadium into a baseball-only venue, the restaurant is undergoing a transformation as well.

The banquet facility is being transformed into a casual eatery, Hop City Blues and Brews, that will open this summer and feature Cajun-type cuisine, with a wide selection of beers on tap and blues bands.

“This area is very ripe for what we want to do,” said Don Myers, managing partner of the Catch. “There’s nothing to do after an event at Anaheim Stadium or the Pond, or if you’re attending a convention. We feel with what we’re planning, we’ll hit that market perfectly and give the tourists and the sports-goers something to do after the game is over and after the convention is over.”

The Catch is not the only enterprise anticipating a make-over of the stadium and resort areas.

Next to the Pond, a 362,174-square-foot entertainment complex, patterned after New Orleans’ French Quarter, is being proposed for the former site of Orange Tree Mobile Home Estates.

Plans are to build up to 28 shops with 42,200 square feet of space, as many as 10 restaurants and 12 nightclubs, an exhibition hall, offices and a seven-story, 300-room hotel. The city’s Planning Commission will consider the development proposal on March 3, McCafferty said.

Another project scheduled to open this week near the Pond is JT Schmid’s Brew House and Eatery, an upscale restaurant and microbrewery.

Owner Jason Schmid said the time was right to transform his family-owned industrial property into a business that fit in with the revitalization of the area.

“When the Pond was built, the area changed, and we wanted to utilize the [property] to its highest and best use,” Schmid said, adding that an “industrial building just didn’t fit across from the Pond.”

Also eyeing the city’s vision for the stadium area is Bob A. Flaxman, president of Crown Realty and Development Inc. of Newport Beach. Crown Realty is a partner in a proposed project on a 12-acre site at the northeast corner of State College Boulevard and Katella Avenue. A bank building occupies a portion of the property, and the remainder is vacant.

“We bought the property because we saw tremendous opportunity,” Flaxman said. “We see State College and Katella as being ground zero in central Orange County.”

Flaxman said within 60 days, a plan for a hotel, office, restaurant and retail project will be presented to the city.

“We’re supportive of what the city is trying to do,” Flaxman said. “Our investment in this property is putting our money where our mouth is, in terms of our belief in the growth opportunities in central Orange County, and particularly in Anaheim.”

* PARDON OUR APPEARANCE

Disney and Anaheim hope tourists won’t mind upcoming renovations. A1

Anaheim is developing a master plan to hasten revitalization of the stadium area.