International businessman and horse owner Frank Stronach confirmed Tuesday that he and Meditrust, the parent company of Santa Anita Park, have signed a letter of intent under which he will buy the race track.
Multibillion dollar businessman and horse owner, Frank Stronach, has signed a letter of intent for his auto systems company, Magna International Inc., to buy Santa Anita Park
Frank Stronach, founder and chairman of the board of Magna International Inc., is buying Santa Anita Park from Meditrust. The $126 million purchase is expected to close today.
Santa Anita Park race track sold to Frank Stronach, a Canadian billionaire businessman and horse owner. The property is valuable to the city for sales tax reasons.
Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach, who is about to become the sole owner of Santa Anita Park, said he hasn't ruled out talking to developer Rick Caruso about reviving a project to build an outdoor mall in the race track's parking lot. Last week Caruso announced that he is no longer pursuing a development deal with Santa Anita Park's outgoing owner, MI Developments, Inc. (MID), for the upscale Shops at Santa Anita. Stronach is the outgoing chairman of MID.
City officials met with new Santa Anita Park owner Frank Stronach to discuss his plans for the race track. He wants to build a retail and entertainment village and an interactive horse racing theme park.
Canadian industrialist Frank Stronach bought Santa Anita Park for $126 million in cash Friday, and said he will share plans with the city later this month to spend roughly half that amount on improvements.
Starting this spring, the new owner of Santa Anita Park, Frank Stronach, is planning the first of what will likely be massive renovations to the horse racing facility.
Frank Stronach, chairman of MI Developments, the owner of Santa Anita Park, says he is optimistic his company can work out a new deal with developer Rick Caruso to build an outdoor mall at Santa Anita Park, even though he voided a 2005 joint-venture agreement with Caruso in April to build the Shops at Santa Anita mall in the race track's parking lot.
Santa Anita Park's current Pro-Ride synthetic track surface will be replaced with a dirt track after the Oak Tree meet ends October 31 and before Santa Anita Park's winter-spring season starts December 26, 2010. Frank Stronach said it will cost about $6 million to install.
Santa Anita Companies have submitted a down-scaled entertainment complex with the new proposal for developing the South parking lot of the Santa Anita Park race track property.
Santa Anita Park owner Frank Stronach met with about a dozen horse trainers to discuss the track's racing surface. Stronach announced that he would not replace the synthetic Pro-Ride track yet, but will stick with it until he gets the ability to run the track with less state regulations. He wants free enterprise, which he may never get. In the meantime, drainage problems and injuries persist on the synthetic track. Stronach said he'd be back in April to discuss the issue more.
Santa Anita Park has been purchased by Frank Stronach for $126 million through MI Development, the real estate, entertainment unit of Magna International Inc., Canada's largest auto-parts manufacturer, of which Stronach is chairman.
Arcadia officials will meet with Santa Anita Park's majority owner Frank Stronach, to talk about the mall project that fell through with Caruso Affiliated, and to see if Stronach still envisions a high end retail project to develop on the track parking lot.