ANAHEIM : Mayor Sees 1990 as Growth Year for City

Mayor Fred Hunter sees 1990 as a year of growth for the city--from the projected start of construction on a planned sports arena to the completion of an expansion of the Convention Center.

The biggest project ahead is the arena, which will have 20,000 to 22,000 seats and cost an estimated $85 million, Hunter said.

Construction should begin in February and be complete by the October, 1991, basketball season, Hunter predicted.

The $40-million expansion of Anaheim Convention Center will bring the facility to 1.1 million square feet and make it the largest convention center west of the Mississippi River, Hunter said. Construction is expected to be complete in March.

Also in store for the city is a transformation of the downtown area into Anaheim Centre, Hunter said.

For more than 10 years, the view from Hunter’s downtown law office has been dirt lots on either side of City Hall. But construction in the redevelopment area is expected to bring businesses and housing back, Hunter said.

“There used to be a town here many years ago, but they tore it down,” Hunter said. “Downtown needs to be re-energized, to get going again.”

Construction should begin on the Pacific Bell-Koll project to the west of City Hall, Hunter said. The project will include 1.1 million square feet of office space, about 30,000 square feet in restaurants and a movie theater.

The Lincoln Property project, about 400 housing units and retail space east of City Hall, is also expected to break ground, Hunter said. The development will feature shops with condominiums above them. And construction is in the works for Gypsum Canyon, the site at which the county has proposed building a jail. The City Council, which has gone to court seeking to block the jail project, will soon be considering the Irvine Co.’s proposal to build homes on the land.

In Anaheim Hills, ground-breaking is in store for two retail projects in 1990, Hunter said.

At Weir Canyon Road and the Riverside Freeway, a shopping center with high-volume, low-cost stores is planned. And on the other side of the freeway, at Weir Canyon and Santa Ana Canyon roads, an 85-acre regional shopping center with office space is planned, he said.