Santa Anita Has Plan for Domed Theater : Development: The proposal for a 16,000-seat auditorium is intended to boost revenue and make use of the racetrack parking lot. No plans have been submitted to the city, but opposition ifs forming.

ARCADIA —  Santa Anita Park officials are considering building a 16,000-seat domed music theater in the racetrack’s huge parking lot.

The racetrack’s operator, Santa Anita Operating Co., envisions the multimillion-dollar music dome rivaling the Hollywood Bowl in size, with a state-of-the-art sound and visual system. Shops and restaurants may be part of the development, company officials said.

“We conceive it as a popular music venue with a retracting roof like the Toronto Skydome,” said Alexander F. Ingle, vice president of Santa Anita Operating Co.

The company has been searching for ways to boost revenue and utilize its largely unused 145-acre parking lot since racetrack attendance began declining six years ago.

A similar 150-foot steel and glass structure was proposed in June for Hollywood Park in Inglewood. Racetrack officials there hope to begin construction next year if the city approves the project. Hollywood Park has also built a golf driving range, and a card club is under construction.

An equal partner in the $50-million Hollywood Park music dome is Robert E. Geddes, chairman of Eric/Chandler Entertainment Group and co-owner of Irvine Meadows and Avalon Attractions, one of the country’s largest concert promoters.

Ingle said Geddes and associates of his from Toronto are working on the Santa Anita dome project, but no formal agreement has been signed.

Geddes and other officials at his company were unavailable for comment.

Santa Anita officials say a music center is viable in the San Gabriel Valley because such large entertainment venues as Irvine Meadows and the Hollywood Bowl are relatively far away. “Certainly on our side of town there would be nothing that would compare,” Ingle said.

Although Santa Anita officials pitched the music dome idea to the Arcadia City Council on Oct. 26, the dome and other facilities are still in the conceptual stage and no plans have been submitted to the city, Ingle said.

Santa Anita officials have hired Gin Wong Associates, a Beverly Hills architectural firm that designed San Francisco’s Transamerica Tower, to do preliminary design work on the dome project, Ingle said.

Santa Anita officials say they will schedule informal community meetings next year to present the plan to residents and solicit comments. “Our plans could change depending on what citizens say,” Ingle said.

Homeowners who have previously complained about concerts at the racetrack are already up in arms over the music center.

“Our goal is to ensure that the communities around the racetrack do have some say,” said Jim Fox, who lives north of the track and plans to organize a protest against the dome.

Some residents said they fear the city will be biased toward the racetrack because it provides substantial revenue to Arcadia.

The Santa Anita Operating Co. and Newport Beach-based Santa Anita Realty Enterprises Inc., one of the nation’s largest real estate investment trusts, make up the publicly traded Santa Anita Companies. Santa Anita Realty owns the racetrack and 50% of Arcadia’s Santa Anita Fashion Park. Arcadia gets nearly $4 million a year in taxes from the racetrack and mall.

Mayor Joseph C. Ciraulo, reading a written statement at last week’s council meeting, said any project will be subject to City Council approval and that residents will be able to voice their concerns at public hearings.

City Manager Donald R. Duckworth said he and other city administrators have visited Anaheim officials to discuss how they negotiated the planned expansion of Disneyland. Based on those meetings, Arcadia plans to hire a consultant to manage the city’s response to any development at the track, he said.