Santa Anita Realty Enterprises won a long-awaited victory late Wednesday as the City Council tentatively granted a commercial land-use designation for an area that could serve as the site of a major entertainment center.
Citizen input is sought on the proposed Santa Anita Commercial Center. The current proposal is 1/3 the size of the initial package presented in 1996 and would be built on 60 acres of what is now the south parking lot of Santa Anita Park.
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.
The Arcadia City Planning Commission voted 6-0 to reject the zoning change for the Santa Anita Park property from "horse racing uses" to "commercial/entertainment," saying it could not approve any changes until it sees a specific proposal.
Santa Anita REAlty Enterprises has poured more than $78,000 into the campaign to defeat Measure M, the Nov. 5 ballot measure to give voters veto power over the development of an entertainment complex near the company's race track.
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.
In a major retreat from its campaign to develop land south of the Santa Anita Park race track, Santa Anita Realty Enterprises has withdrawn its application to build a $300 million entertainment complex.
Concerns about a proposed entertainment complex next to Santa Anita Park race track have been expressed by representatives of three stores in the Santa Anita Fashion Park.
Preservationists are protesting the remodeling at the Santa Anita Park race track. The Los Angeles Conservancy opposes the twin elevator towers and other plans under development.
At the City Planning Commission's General Plan Update meeting on April 29, 1996, an announcement was made that Santa Anita Realty had withdrawn its application for development of an entertainment center.
At the Arcadia City Planning Commission meeting of June 13, City Manager Bill Kelly gave a brief overview of the Santa Anita Entertainment Center Project (SAEC).