Santa Ana Offers Land for $1 in Bid for State Appeals Court

Desperate to ensure that the 4th District Court of Appeal doesn’t move to UC Irvine, Santa Ana has offered to sell the state nearly 2 acres downtown for $1 on which to build a $17-million courthouse.

UC Irvine, which sees an appellate court on campus as a major step toward establishing a much-wanted law school, has offered to sell the state 2.5 acres near its research park for $2.4 million.

Santa Ana’s offer would give the state city-owned land at Ross Street and Santa Ana Boulevard, the site of a closed jail and across the street from the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse. The city would also demolish the jail, prepare the land for construction, build a 300-space parking garage and give all 73 ground-floor spaces to the court.

Santa Ana City Manager David N. Ream said the deal was worth more than $3.5 million.

“Given the state’s budget crisis and the importance of keeping the court in Santa Ana, it means Santa Ana is the best place for taxpayers and the legal community,” said Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove), who has been supporting a project there.

Having the appellate court in the city’s Civic Center would ensure that it and downtown remained vital employment centers, proponents say. As many as 10,000 people are employed at the Civic Center’s various county, state and local offices, officials say.

“It’s a major employment center for the city of Santa Ana and in attracting development and employment in the surrounding downtown area,” Ream said. “It’s extremely important we don’t see those uses fragment.”

Moving the court to UC Irvine would break tradition, since the state’s appellate courts are in county seats.

UC Irvine spokeswoman Susan Menning said the school was aware of Santa Ana’s bid but decided not to change its offer.

“We stand on the merits of our proposal and submitted our best and final offer,” Menning said.

UC Irvine’s proposal would allow its students and faculty to use the library, courtroom and other facilities and for the court to provide internships. Having the court on campus also raises the possibility of judges teaching at UC Irvine.

Santa Ana has used the strategy of giving away Civic Center land before, when it was contending with Irvine and Laguna Niguel for the federal courthouse, which opened in 1999.

Previously, Santa Ana had asked $2.3 million for land it would now hand over for $1. Council members voted unanimously at a closed meeting March 21 to upgrade the offer, Councilman Jose Solorio said.

The state started looking for a new court site in 2000 because its current facility had run out of space and two judges were forced to use chambers in another building.

William Vickrey, administrative director of the state courts, said that when the bidding began, Santa Ana officials offered to sell the court a parcel that was smaller than needed for $2.4 million and refused to negotiate.

The state sought more proposals, and Santa Ana and UC Irvine both made offers. UC Irvine has dropped its original price about 50%, Vickrey said.

The site of the 4th District Court of Appeal will be chosen by the 21 members of the Judicial Council, headed by the chief justice of the state Supreme Court. The state Public Works Board will review it. The Judicial Council could make a decision at its April 15 meeting.