LOS ANGELES _ In his first public comments on the stadium deal approved by the Anaheim City Council in December, Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno said he has not decided whether he would replace Angel Stadium or renovate it.
SRB Management, a company affiliated with Moreno, agreed to buy the 153-acre site _ the stadium and the surrounding parking lots _ for $325 million. The city would like the development to include parkland and affordable housing, and would consider reducing the final sales price as an incentive.
Moreno said the Angels would play in their current stadium for at least the next three to five years, the time frame he estimated would be needed to build a new stadium elsewhere in the parking lot. In the meantime, as the team studies whether to opt for a new or renovated stadium, he said he would continue to invest in Angel Stadium for cleanliness, safety and fan experience.
"A lot of people are looking at bigger, more fun gathering areas, so we look at that," he said.
Within the next four months, Moreno said he expects to deliver a development plan, "which will give us a macro look of what we, in a perfect world, would like to build over the next 20 or 30 years."
The Angels previously commissioned a feasibility study that envisioned the parking lots dotted with homes, offices, restaurants, shops, a hotel, a beer garden and wine bar, a fitness center and social spaces.
Before the City Council voted to approve the deal, city officials acknowledged they had no idea who Moreno's partners were in SRB Management. That, Moreno said, is because he has no partners yet.
He said a family trust _ not the Angels themselves _ is the buyer of the property. The eventual partners will depend on the development plan.
"We'll end up having partners because we're talking to a lot of different groups that are interested in doing certain things," Moreno said. "If you're gonna do a hotel, you'll need to find a partner in the hotel business."
