The developers of the oft-delayed Pointe Anaheim project are retooling plans for their $545 million outdoor shopping and entertainment center across from the Disneyland Resort.
The Pointe Anaheim project, once touted as a rival to Downtown Disney, now is being revised to be built in several phases, according to Robert Shelton, general manager of Excel Pointe Anaheim LLC, the project’s developer. Shelton said his firm is preparing to submit an amended proposal to the city of Anaheim in the next few weeks that adds a fourth hotel and scraps a proposed trio of live theaters with 4,600 seats, a nightclub and some restaurant space.
The project has faced difficulty securing financing and land in the past two years. And Downtown Disney, which opened in February with big-name entertainment and restaurants, has stolen much of Pointe Anaheim’s thunder.
Now Pointe Anaheim’s developers are proposing to build the project a section at a time. The last phase could depend on whether they are able to acquire the 9-acre Anaheim Plaza Hotel site owned by Pyrovest Corp.
“I think it’s prudent that they are being more cautious given the economic climate, the tight capital market and the slowdown in consumer spending,” said Tony Cherbak, a retail analyst at Deloitte & Touche LLC in Costa Mesa. “It makes more sense to do it in phases and mitigate their risk.”
So far, Pointe Anaheim has spent $35 million to purchase all but two parcels for the proposed project, but one of those two is the Pyrovest property, which would be about a third of the total project. Pointe Anaheim developers had initially proposed spending up to $75 million to buy nine parcels from 15 property owners, including Pyrovest.
The phased plan would allow Pointe Anaheim,once slated to open at the same time as Disney’s California Adventure park in February,to begin building without further delays, Shelton said.
“We will look at each phase as a stand-alone project,” he said.
Pointe Anaheim has financing in place for the proposed first phase, a 300-room hotel and about 200,000 square feet of retail, but not for subsequent phases, Shelton said.
“We decreased the number of nightclubs and dining and that is really in response to what we were seeing at Downtown Disney,” Shelton said. “They have done such a great job with entertainment, nightclubs and large restaurants. But the one area we perceived was still necessary is retail shopping, so we are increasing the retail and decreasing in the other areas so we are not directly competitive with Disney.”
The amended 29-acre L-shaped project fronting Harbor Boulevard across from the Disneyland Resort would shrink from 655,000 square feet to 636,600 square feet but add 612 hotel rooms for a total of 1,662.
Because of its shift in focus, Shelton said, Pointe Anaheim has replaced its architects,Jerde Partnership, which designed Universal’s City Walk,with Seattle-based Callison Architects Inc. Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo Architects & Planners in Newport Beach has been hired to design the center’s four hotels.
“People are taking buses and shuttles to shop in others areas,” Shelton said. “They are taking shopping tours to South Coast Plaza, MainPlace and the Block at Orange, so shopping is something we believe is not being provided anywhere in the resort area.” n
