The city of Anaheim has visions of a big payday as it considers bids from developers looking to grab a 51-acre plot of city land next to Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
La Jolla-based developer Windstar Communities LLC, one of the five bidding on the parcel, hopes another form of green,environmentally friendly plans for the site,might help sway the city’s decision, expected later this year.
Windstar, part of La Jolla-based Nexus Properties Inc., may need all the help it can get if it wants to be a serious contender.
Of the five bidders,Archstone-Smith Trust, Hines Interests LP, Hicks Holdings, SunCal Cos. and Lennar Corp.,Windstar’s the only one proposing a ground lease with the city, including a $40 million upfront payment.
Archstone-Smith and Hines reportedly have the highest bid,$150 million,to buy the land. That’s roughly three times what the National Football League, which long has considered the site for a stadium and team, was willing to pay more than a year ago.
As the NFL’s stalled on its plans, the city began considering a combination of high-rise homes, offices, hotels and shops for the Platinum Triangle land.
The site now mostly is used for baseball stadium parking.
Other land in the Platinum Triangle, mostly industrial sites, have sold in excess of $6 million per acre in recent years, brokers said.
Windstar’s upfront bid isn’t nearly as much as those from the other four developers. Company principal Eric Heffner thinks a focus on the environment, and a long-term lease with the city, are more than enough to counteract the big dollars others are willing to spend.
The company’s proposal for the land, dubbed Waterside, stresses environmentally friendly building designs, the latest energy-efficient technologies and plans to integrate the project with public transportation.
Think water-efficient landscaping, shady trees that line streets, neighborhoods geared toward pedestrians, roof gardens, man-made rivers and monorails, to name a few.
Irvine-based land planner EDAW Inc., which helped create the master plan for the Platinum Triangle, put together the concept for Windstar’s Waterside proposal.
“This is a big enough project that making sure that the development is sustainable for a long period makes a lot sense,” Heffner said.
How long? At least 95 years. That’s the length of time Windstar would lease the land from the city.
Depending on how Windstar developed the land, the city would receive revenue of some $1.7 billion to $6 billion during the life of the 95-year lease.
“It would be a great investment for the city,” Heffner said.
Windstar, formed in 2003, already has its hand in the Platinum Triangle, the once industrial area around Angel Stadium that now is slated for about 7,500 homes plus shops and restaurants.
The company’s building Stadium Lofts, a 390-unit condominium project that was the first development to begin sales in the area.
Stadium Lofts is about one-third sold. Some 18,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants at the development is leased up, according to Heffner.
The Waterside project would be the largest yet for Windstar, which has about $500 million of housing projects planned or in development.
Multiple plans are being considered for Waterside, depending on the NFL’s decision, and if the company can get approvals for homes on the land from the Angels, which have the right to sign off on the land’s development.
Up to 1,750 apartment homes, including high-rises, could be built at Waterside, along with as much as 1.6 million square feet of offices, 475,000 square feet of retail, and three hotels, among other uses.
If Windstar were to win the bidding, Heffner said the company could begin the first of three construction phases by early 2008, with completion of the first phase in two years. The entire project would be completed within five years.
