Dinner Theater to Be Built on Stadium Parking Lot

A $15-million Hollywood-style dinner theater, where patrons become stars for the evening, will be built next to Anaheim Stadium.

The City Council, in a deal approved Tuesday, will sell 1.25 acres of the 40-acre, city-owned Sportstown site, a proposed entertainment complex, for $1 million to Ogden Entertainment.

“I think it’s a winner in so many ways,” Mayor Tom Daly said, citing added jobs, visitors to the city and entertainment options for the public.

Councilman Bob Zemel, who questioned the financial deal last week, causing a delay, said Tuesday that he is comfortable with the transaction: “As far as I’m concerned the taxpayers of Anaheim got a good deal.”

Ogden will build the 40,000-square-foot, 700-seat Tinseltown Studios on the northwest portion of the stadium parking lot, off Katella Avenue. Ogden will lease land for a 550-car parking lot, with the city receiving about $235,000 a year. The city will use at least $379,000 from the land sale to make street, sewer and drainage improvements. Tinseltown is planned to open next fall.