Asian Entrepreneur Buys 6.5-Acre Site, Plans Upscale Hotel Near Disneyland

A Hong Kong real estate entrepreneur has bought 6.5 acres across the street from Disneyland, where he plans to erect a large hotel.

Paul Chan, who owns the Carousel Inn near the Anaheim theme park, paid $19.9 million for the property next to the Convention Center at Katella Avenue and West Street, real estate sources said Tuesday.

Three aging motels--the Magic Lamp, Magic Carpet and Golden Forest--occupy the property. They eventually will be torn down and replaced with a hotel affiliated with an upscale chain such as Westin or Omni. The site is zoned for a 700-room hotel.

The deal is motivated by a booming hotel market and by the multibillion-dollar make-over of Anaheim, which includes an expansion of the Convention Center, construction of a new Walt Disney Co. theme park, and freeway and street improvements.

D. Jerry Evans, the Collins Commercial Corp. real estate agent who handled the sale, said Malaysian buyers originally had tried to purchase the motels. When those deals fell through, “another buyer stepped in at the 11th hour,” he said.

Evans said the site was purchased through two companies backed with Hong Kong funds, Venture Inc. and Adventure Inc.

He declined to name the buyer, but sources said it is Chan, who has substantial property holdings in Hong Kong. He liquidated real estate holdings in Texas to begin buying property in California during the recession.

Chan didn’t return calls left at the Carousel on Tuesday.

Motel employees said they were told the Golden Forest would be razed but the Magic Lamp and Magic Carpet would be spruced up and would continue to operate for the immediate future as the Magic Inn and Suites.

The eventual intent, though, is to build a high-quality, large hotel, Evans said.