Glacier Park Asks City to Extend Its Deadline

The company planning the Gotcha Glacier indoor sports park is seeking another extension in its deadline to secure financing for the $130-million structure to be built on the parking lot of Edison International Field.

Glacier of Anaheim LLC, which was scheduled to obtain financing by Friday, the end of its second 30-day extension, wants a two-month delay. Company executives say this will be the last one.

City officials downplayed the request, which the City Council is likely to approve tonight. They said delays are not unexpected given the scope of the project, which consists of indoor snowboarding, body-boarding, rock-climbing and skateboarding facilities, plus retail stores and restaurants.

“It’s a large, complex project,” Deputy City Manager Tom Wood said.

The city also gets compensated for the delays. The company has paid the city $50,000 for each of the two previous extensions and would have to pay $100,000 for the latest one.

The extension, which would delay the opening until at least August 2002, is the latest setback in the city’s effort to develop a broader area to boost its image as a tourist destination beyond the Disneyland Resort, which includes the nearly completed California Adventure theme park and a new entertainment district.

Developers of Pointe Anaheim, a planned $500-million entertainment and hotel complex across from Disneyland, recently acknowledged that their project has stalled because of difficulties in securing financing.

Both city officials and Glacier of Anaheim executives expect the proposed Aug. 15 deadline to be met.

“We think the Aug. 15 [deadline] should be it,” said Michael Gerard, chief of operations and marketing for Glacier of Anaheim. “We don’t think we’ll go beyond there. We expect to build the project.”

Glacier also has asked for more space in the project so it can accommodate sporting goods chain Sports Chalet and Jillian’s, an operator of entertainment centers that combines bars, restaurants, billiards, bowling and other games under one roof, according to a city staff report.

With the additional space, the Gotcha Glacier complex would total 532,725 square feet, and the company would pay the city $980,227 a year to lease the land. The lease is for 55 years with four five-year extensions.

Agreements with Sports Chalet and Jillian’s should increase the likelihood of Glacier’s financing coming through, Wood said.

Executives from Glacier would not confirm whether they have signed contracts with Sports Chalet and Jillian’s, saying they intend to announce tenants within two weeks.