The City of Anaheim in California, US, has unlocked wide-ranging plans to bring about a sea change in the area around Angel Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Angels Major League Baseball (MLB) team. It is being rewritten to make it a multifunctional space featuring parks, shops, residential spaces and restaurants.
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the city of Anaheim, California. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The futuristic ballpark serves as their home arena.
The entire development comes with the label – ‘The Big A: 2050’ and the objective is to keep the Angels in Anaheim for the next 30-plus years. The City has detailed the plans after the Angels agreed last December to buy the publicly-owned Angel Stadium in a deal worth $325m (£260.5m/€288.4m).
The deal, which has been given the go-ahead by the Anaheim City Council, covers the 153 acres including and around the 45,483-seat Angel Stadium.
Negotiations between the Angels and the City Council began in February this year on second-step agreements for the sale and in June SRB Management Company – which is made up of Angels owner Arte Moreno and his family – submitted a conceptual master site plan for the development.
Apartments, hotels, homes and entertainment uses could come up in part of the land over the next 30 years as part of the City’s scheme of things for the Platinum Triangle, which would also incorporate a new entertainment district at Honda Center, residence of the Anaheim Ducks National Hockey League (NHL) ice hockey team.
The proposed development of the Angel Stadium site would see 5,175 apartments and condominiums, 2.7 million square feet of office space, 1.1 million square feet of retail, restaurants and hotels, a five-acre urban park and 12,500 car parking spaces coming up.
The City has forecasted that between $10m and $20m in yearly city revenue could be regained from hotel, property, and sales taxes. The development could also attribute for either a new ballpark or repurposing of Angel Stadium, which is one of the oldest venues in MLB having opened its doors in 1966. A new stadium would be built to the east of Angel Stadium alongside the Santa Ana River, but this is set to be explored at a later date.
The City pointed out that it agreed to the sale of Angel Stadium going by the recent trend where everybody is jumping on to the private ownership of California venues’ bandwagon. To buttress their point, they cited Dodger Stadium, SoFi Stadium and Chase Center as examples. Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball team, was particularly highlighted as a venue that has “revitalized California’s capital city” with its mixed-use development.
Said Mayor of Anaheim Harry Sidhu in a statement, “This plan has the potential to bring the great experiences of baseball cities such as San Diego or Chicago to Anaheim. Not only does this proposal speak to our vision for baseball in Anaheim, the investment it represents will help move our City past the economic impacts of coronavirus in years to come.”
Moreno added, “The stadium development plan will realize the vision of the Platinum Triangle decades before the current lease allows. This plan is an important step in creating a driving economic force, while investing in Anaheim’s future.”
“The Big A will always be part of this property, in one version or another,” put in Marie Garvey, spokeswoman for Moreno’s administration firm.
The sale of Angel Stadium would also come as a breather for the City in the form of yearly payments towards refurbishments, which currently stand at $700,000, increasing to $5m through the potential close of a sale in 2025 and $17m through 2038, when the Angels’ present lease ends.
The City would also forego revenue sharing on ticket sales and parking, which stood at $1.3m and $581,200, respectively, after expenses, for the 12 months through June 2019.
The Council would receive the final agreements and plans in September or October, with the green light being expected in 2021 or 2022. It is hoped the sale will close as early as 2023 before work can begin in 2025 and run by 2050.
Going by the plans, ‘The Halos’ are planning an entire neighborhood – (halos) floating atop gateways and pathways, and beneath them 150 acres of parks, outlets, homes and restaurants.
The plan additionally proposes a mixture of luxurious and inexpensive housing — a mixed 5,175 residences in all — that includes such neighborhood wants as a grocery retailer, dry cleaners and playgrounds.
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