Arena Plans for Santa Ana Move Forward

Plans for a $75-million sports-and-entertainment arena in Santa Ana gained momentum Tuesday with announcements that the developers have chosen a Costa Mesa firm to do an environmental impact study and are close to choosing the architect.

Those developments came one day after Santa Ana officials announced that MCA Inc. had agreed to become an equal financial partner in the arena, with Spectacor Management Group and King-Guanci Development Inc. of Newport Beach and Boston.

The backing of MCA fills a major gap in financing and programming for the 20,000-seat arena.

On Tuesday, Antonio G. Tavares, president of Philadelphia-based Spectacor, said the partners have selected Keith Cos. of Costa Mesa to draft an environmental impact report and are “very close” to selecting an architect.

Tony Guanci, of King-Guanci, said talks are under way with two of the nation’s leading architects of sports facilities: Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum; and Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff, both of Kansas City.

Bruce Ibbetson of Santa Fe Pacific Realty Corp., which owns the 17-acre site on Edinger Avenue near the Costa Mesa Freeway, said the environmental impact report should be finished before the end of the year, with final city review shortly thereafter.

Ibbetson said that Santa Fe had agreed to a long-term lease with the three developers who make up the Santa Ana Arena Partnership.

Spectacor, the managing general partner, will handle all financial arrangements, will manage the arena when it is completed and will be responsible for all negotiations with sports organizations, city officials said. Spectacor oversees about 20 arenas and halls around the country.

King-Guanci, a real estate development firm, will oversee development and construction. The company is owned by former Massachusetts Gov. Edward King and his partner Tony Guanci, who manages the Newport Beach office.

“We are responsible for the day-to-day management of the project,” Guanci said. “We are the actual developer, while MCA is an entertainment firm and Spectacor is an arena management company.”

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young said Tuesday that he is cautiously optimistic that MCA’s connections with big-name music stars would enable the arena to operate at a profit even without the immediate presence of a professional basketball or hockey team. But he said he was sure the arena eventually would find a major sports tenant.

“I’m confident that we will get a team. . . . Three million people will be happy to have a shorter commute to see an NBA team,” Young said.