Finances, Fit Hold Up Anaheim’s Decision on Tinseltown Proposal

The City Council on Tuesday night postponed voting on a proposed $15-million, Hollywood-themed dinner theater called Tinseltown Studios, after Councilman Bob Zemel voiced concerns about the financial arrangement between the city and developer.

During a 45-minute discussion of the project, which would be an anchor for a proposed retail and entertainment complex outside the city’s baseball stadium, Zemel also questioned how the project would fit in with the larger complex, dubbed Sportstown.

Because it involves a land sale, the deal must be approved by at least four of the five council members, making Zemel’s vote crucial. Councilman Tom Tait must abstain because of a conflict of interest.

The vote was moved to next Tuesday’s council meeting.

Backing the project is a group that includes former Disneyland president Jack B. Lindquist and Ogden Entertainment, which already manages the Pond of Anaheim.

It calls for a Las Vegas-style dinner theater with seating for 700, a 75-foot-high, Klieg-lit tower, rows of palm trees, and a replica of a Hollywood studio on just over an acre where parking stalls are now.

The council would sell the land for Tinseltown and lease another three acres for parking. City officials hope the project will spark investment in the proposed Sportstown complex, to be built on city land outside the stadium. A developer hired by the city in February has yet to line up tenants for the other 36 acres that make up the site.

Developers will pay Anaheim $1 million for the property, but the city has agreed to spend at least $379,000 of that for street, sewer and drainage improvements, city officials said.

Projections also show annual revenues of $235,000 from renting 3.2 acres as a parking lot.

The site for Tinseltown was to be part of Sportstown. But instead, the city has opted to sell the land.

A specific site plan for Tinseltown still has to be approved by the city’s Planning Commission. The land slated for the project, fronting Katella Avenue east of State College Boulevard, is already zoned for major development. An environmental impact study was approved last May.

Lindquist said Tinseltown would create 130 new jobs and could attract 350,000 patrons in its the first year. It would cater to convention visitors and large groups such as people celebrating anniversaries and birthdays.