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ANAHEIM, Calif. (April 26, 2022) — The sale and development of the Angel Stadium of Anaheim site will move forward and bring with it the largest affordable housing investment in Anaheim history as part of an agreement by the city and the state of California.
The agreement, between Anaheim and the California Department of Housing and Community Development, resolves all issues with the stadium site sale and the state’s Surplus Land Act.
Anaheim’s City Council approved the agreement at an April 26 public meeting with extensive public comment and discussion.
“Today Anaheim moves forward,” Mayor Harry Sidhu said. “This agreement clears the way for us to keep baseball in Anaheim and to turn acres of empty land into new uses to fund public safety and community services.”
“At the same time, Anaheim and our state partners are meeting a shared goal of bringing more affordable housing to our community in what will be the largest investment in our city’s history,” Sidhu said. “We have heard loud and clear that our residents want baseball to stay in Anaheim. We also know we need more housing in reach of working families and renewed investment in our neighborhoods. We will see all of this as we move forward with our stadium plan.”
Overview
With the agreement and a pending update to a purchase and sale agreement, cash payment in the $319.8 million stadium site sale will go from $150 million to $246 million.
The agreement sets aside $95.9 million ― in new cash paid by buyer SRB Management LLC ― for affordable housing across Anaheim to get underway within five years.
Anaheim will continue to receive roughly $150 million in cash from the sale. The $170 million balance will come as affordable housing, a city park and assumed maintenance obligations in the stadium area.
The agreement also calls for a minimum of $27.7 million in affordable housing on the stadium site.
In all, the stadium site sale provides $123.7 million in affordable housing across the city and on the stadium site in what would be the largest single investment in affordable housing in Anaheim’s history.
At the same time, Anaheim and California are committed to encouraging additional affordable housing on the stadium site, with possible use of tax credits or state or federal funding.
Anaheim affordable housing fund
The agreement creates an Anaheim affordable housing trust fund with $95.9 million in new cash proceeds from stadium site sale.
The agreement calls for the $95.9 million to fund affordable housing across Anaheim, offsite from the stadium. The new affordable homes will be completed or get underway within five years.
The new affordable homes will be for extremely low, very low or low income households, as defined by federal and state guidelines.
Anaheim estimates the fund will create about 1,000 new affordable homes across the city, based on factors including property acquisition, construction, renovation and potential matching state and federal funds that may be received as well as investment by nonprofit developers.
The funding will be the largest single affordable housing investment in Anaheim’s history, ahead of Hermosa Village, a 516-home affordable community in central Anaheim created by the renovation of existing apartments from 2004 to 2008.
In agreement with California, affordable homes off the stadium site will make them available sooner.
The original stadium site development plan called for 466 affordable apartments built onsite over 25 years.
The longer timeframe was based on the need to build parking structures to free up surface parking for development.
The funding will allow Anaheim to pursue development-ready affordable housing projects across the city sooner.
Stadium site affordable housing
The stadium site will see a minimum of $27.7 million worth of affordable apartments.
The number of affordable apartments funded by the $27.7 million is still to be determined, with a focus on maximizing the number of affordable homes onsite.
The agreement also calls for Anaheim and California to commit to incentivizing through tax credits, affordable housing bonds or local, state or federal funding for additional onsite affordable apartments.
Next steps
The agreement next goes before an Orange County Superior Court judge for approval as a stipulated judgment with court oversight of the terms.
It is effective upon court approval.
The agreement resolves all disputes related to the stadium site sale and the Surplus Land Act, a 1968 state law updated in 2020 to cover the sale of government-owned property and prioritizing affordable housing.
Anaheim contends the stadium site, which is covered by a lease through 2038, is not surplus land and falls under a separate section of state law allowing for a sale as economic development, among other points.
HCD contends the stadium site sale needed to comply with the updated Surplus Land Act and issued a notice of violation on Dec. 8, 2021.
Both sides support the agreement as solution to bring more affordable housing to Anaheim.
There is no fault, wrongdoing or concession of violation in the agreement by the city of Anaheim.
City process
The stadium site sale and development plan now is set to continue through the final stages of city approvals.
A stadium site purchase and sale agreement and a disposition and development agreement are set to be updated to reflect the state agreement.
The stadium site sale was first approved in December 2019, with an updated sale agreement as well as a development agreement approved in September and October of 2020.
From May to July:
- Development tract maps and a revised disposition and development agreement are expected to go before the Anaheim Planning Commission.
- A revised purchase and sale agreement, revised disposition and development agreement and development tract maps are expected to go before Anaheim City Council.
A sale could close in the second half of 2022.
You can read a fact sheet summary of the proposed agreement here.
You can learn more about the city’s plan for the stadium site at Anaheim.net/BigA.
