When will new restaurants, shops and homes be built around Angel Stadium? How will all the planned development affect traffic in the area? And what do Anaheim residents who don’t watch baseball get out of the sale of one of the city’s most valuable public assets?
About two months after Angels owner Arte Moreno’s business partnership, SRB Management, unveiled its plan for the 152-acre Anaheim stadium site, the release last week of a proposed development agreement helps answer some of those questions.
The agreement, which spells out the public benefits and SRB Management’s responsibilities, is on the city Planning Commission’s agenda for Wednesday, Sept. 9, and will be taken up by the City Council probably on Sept. 29.
The concept is a vibrant, sports-focused community where people can live, work or go for entertainment. The site plan presented in June includes either a new or a renovated baseball stadium; 5,175 residential units; a large, central public park and smaller community parks around the development; 2.7 million square feet of offices and 1.1 million square feet of restaurants and shops; and two hotels with a total of 943 rooms.
Here are some questions and answers about what’s in the agreement and what it obligates the developer to do.
Q. So what’s new in the development agreement, and when would all this stuff be built?
A. A few things in the proposed agreement were described in more detail or for the first time, including that the central “flagship” park will be 7 acres; and a total of 777 units of housing would meet affordability requirements, including 259 units for very low-income families and at least 207 units for low-income households, with the remainder for low- and moderate-income residents. The affordable homes would be mixed throughout the residential development and must meet affordability criteria for at least 55 years.
Keep in mind it’s a long-term plan, so it could be awhile before new buildings start to rise and amenities come online (SRB Management spokeswoman Marie Garvey said the timing of construction will depend on the market). The agreement sets the following outside deadlines:
- Within 15 years: the 7-acre park and at least 850 residential units must be built.
- Within 20 years: one hotel, at least 180,000 square feet of commercial space and at least 2,400 of the residential units must be completed.
- Within 25 years: 3,105 or more residential units and 363,000 square feet of commercial space must be built.
- Within 30 years: the second hotel and at least 550,000 square feet of commercial space must be finished.
Q. Do any other public benefits come with the agreement?
A. The answer may be seen as subjective, but the document also specifies that the developer will pay about $2.5 million to the city toward a future library branch, and must sign project labor agreements for some of the construction. Such agreements are often used to guarantee well-paying jobs, union labor and hiring preferences for local residents, veterans and other categories.
Also, the city will build a fire station to serve the area on a small parcel it kept back from the sale.
The overall development is projected to create 45,000 permanent jobs – plus 30,000 short-term construction jobs – and it’s expected to generate more than $38 million per year in revenue for the city at build out in 30 years. It also ends years of contention over the Angels’ lease and absolves the city of having to pay for maintenance or renovation of the 1966 stadium.
Q. How does all this affect the sale price of $325 million that the Anaheim City Council agreed to in December, and when would the city get the money?
A. A minor tweak (removing about 2.5 acres for a fire station site and an existing water well) brought the initial price down to $320 million. From there, provisions of the development agreement would further lower the final price to $150 million by crediting the developer for public benefits, including $123.7 million for the affordable housing (roughly $265,000 per unit) and $46.2 million for the flagship park.
SRB Management has already paid the city $5 million, with another $45 million potentially coming in this fall, $20 million more possibly by late 2021, and the remaining $80 million in four equal payments in subsequent years.
Q. What about parking, and how would the plans affect traffic in the area?
A. A combination of parking structures, surface lots and underground parking will be included around the development, with separate parking for residents. Three “mobility hubs,” with parking spaces, rideshare pick-up spots and transit stops, would be accessed from East Katella and East Orange avenues and the current main stadium entrance at Gene Autry Way.
The development agreement requires the developer to pay “fair share” fees for improvements of nearby freeway ramps and to contract with the existing transit system that serves the Anaheim Resort District and other points of interest, including the nearby ARTIC train and bus station.
Q. How long will Angels baseball be part of the development?
A. A separate “commitment agreement,” which will be part of the overall package of documents tied to the stadium sale, lays out that the team will play home games in Anaheim through at least 2050, with five optional extensions of five years each after that – setting the farthest-out end date in 2075.
What’s in the proposed Angel Stadium development agreement? Here are some highlights posted first on https://anaheimsignsorangecounty.blogspot.com
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