Reinventing Anaheim as a Job Center

Think Anaheim, and Disneyland likely pops into mind or maybe the Angels or the Mighty Ducks. But probably not industrial businesses.

City officials are out to change that.

As part of a new campaign, Anaheim is trying to market a northern swath of town they call “The Canyon: Center for Advanced Technology.”

It is already home to 2,600 businesses that employ more than 55,000, making it one of the county’s largest job generators.

“It’s really the best-kept secret,” said Anaheim’s redevelopment director Elisa Stipkovich. “What we’re really trying to accomplish is to give the area an identity -- for people to see it as a viable part of Anaheim.”

Boeing, Pacific Sunwear and the zipper manufacturer YKK all have warehouses there. With its 5,000 employees, Boeing represents one of the city’s largest employers.

The Canyon’s centerpiece is the Anaheim Technology Center with five sprawling buildings on a 30-acre campus. Boeing, the printer Donovan Lithocraft, computer luggage supplier Targus, and B/E Aerospace are all housed in the buildings.

The city has worked to attract high-wage, high-tech manufacturing jobs to the Canyon, but now the effort is far more focused, officials said.

They are planning a website for the Canyon that links directly to Anaheim’s home page. City officials have also been attending trade shows in an effort to build their reputation.

With the area already diversified, officials say, they want to concentrate on recruiting high-end, skilled jobs.

The city’s primary competition is the Irvine Spectrum, Orange County’s largest industrial area. Beyond that, Anaheim’s Canyon is the other major zone.

City workers are installing signs throughout northern Anaheim to help identify the Canyon.

And city officials, outfitted with hot coffee and gift-filled backpacks, recently greeted area employees one morning outside the local Metrolink station, a goodwill gesture to show the city’s enthusiasm for their presence.

Part of the goal is to raise awareness of the benefits the location has to offer, said redevelopment manager David Gottlieb.

The Canyon encompasses 2,645 contiguous acres of industrial land and is roughly bordered by the Riverside, Santa Ana, Orange and Costa Mesa freeways.

The Metrolink station is also a big selling point as are low power rates because of the city-owned utilities, Gottlieb said.

Because the area is zoned for redevelopment, Gottlieb said, city officials are often willing to negotiate lucrative deals for businesses and offer financial incentives.

The Canyon is one of several redevelopment projects underway in the city.

Downtown Anaheim is also being reinvented. The City Council has approved a $65-million project by the CIM Group, the same developer that helped revitalize Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, Old Pasadena and downtown Brea, to build loft apartments, shopping, parking and possibly, a culinary school.

The city’s General Plan update, due early next year, is also expected to jump-start development around the newly renamed Angels Stadium of Anaheim.

Plans have been approved for an 884-unit luxury apartment complex geared toward young professionals and empty-nesters.

The City Council is expected to rezone the area around the stadium to allow for high-rise, high-density housing and other mixed uses that will give the area a 24-hour atmosphere.