By Mark Mueller - 4/23/2007
Orange County Business Journal Staff
The last thing developer Urban West expected when it bought Anaheim’s Travelers World RV Park last July was to be opening a revamped RV park on the site.
That’s exactly what the developer will be doing in a few weeks.
A more glamorous project was envisioned for the 12-acre, West Ball Road location: Parc Anaheim, a 449-home project close to Disneyland Resort. The homes were to be centered around two 10-story towers.
But as part of the fallout from Walt Disney Co.’s battle with the city of Anaheim and other developers over proposed housing projects in the Anaheim Resort District, Urban West now is going with a “defensive strategy” for the time being, President David DiRienzo said.
That means reopening the RV site, which was shuttered late last year, while entitlement and legal issues are sorted out. The RV park will reopen in May under a new name: Anaheim RV Village. Urban West also put in about $1 million in improvements to the site.
“We never bought it as an RV park,” DiRienzo said. “But the partnership made the decision that as we go through the entitlement process it makes sense (to bring in some funds).”
Housing still is the goal, he said.
Even without opposition, Urban West expected it to take a few years to get permits for its plan. Now, with Disney actively opposing housing near the resort area, a timeframe is harder to figure out, according to DiRienzo.
Disney’s Case
Disney, backed by other Anaheim tourism businesses, has sued the city, opposing plans to build houses and condos near its theme parks. Homes don’t fit well with the area’s hotels, shops and other tourist venues, and could impact the tax base for the area, opposers say.
Housing development also could impact Disney’s plan for a third theme park.
Most of the opposition has been toward Irvine-based SunCal Cos.’ proposal to build 1,500 homes near the resort. A February City Council vote on the SunCal plan ended up in a disputed deadlock, leading to the lawsuit.
Other developers eyeing the resort area also are feeling the heat from the dispute.
Newport Beach-based Renaissance Pacific Properties LLC has plans for a 20-story tower on South Harbor Boulevard that would include 250 condos along with a 375-room hotel.
So far, the plan is still a go. The company is in the early process of applying for permits and entitlements, according to Michael Capaldi, a principal with Renaissance Pacific.
With Disney’s opposition to homes near its resort, “where it all comes out, who knows,” Capaldi said.
O’Donnell/Atkins, which helped put together SunCal’s Anaheim land buy last year, thinks an agreement that benefits all parties can be worked out.
“There was not nearly the interest or momentum in effectuating truly mixed-use development when the resort area plan was drafted as exists now,” said Tom Reimers, O’Donnell/Atkins senior vice president.
“There is a great opportunity here—crafting a site plan that will complement and support existing resort area development while providing for a more well-rounded, long-term land use pattern in the area,” Reimers said.
Capaldi said his big hope is that a compromise, brokered by Mayor Curt Pringle, will put an end to the litigation, and allow his project’s combination of luxury hotel rooms and condos to be built at the site of a former Toys “R” Us store.
“The bottom line is unless you have a residential component, it’s hard to justify building a hotel in the area,” Capaldi said.
Urban West’s DiRienzo thinks the location of his company’s Parc Anaheim project—one of the first big Anaheim residential projects recently proposed outside the city’s Platinum Triangle area—should help its eventual approval.
The site is technically part of the Anaheim Resort District, even though it falls on the opposite side of the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway, from where Disneyland is.
“The north side of the 5 doesn’t support tourism—we don’t see ourselves as part of the resort,” DiRienzo said.
“We’re completely perplexed” by Disney’s challenge of Parc Anaheim, he said.
