County Opposes Stadium Project Near Fashion District
Plans to build a new football stadium on part of a 900-acre swath of land near the Los Angeles Fashion District are being challenged by the County of Los Angeles’ Board of Supervisors, who voted this week to sue the city of Los Angeles over its recently approved funding plan that favors a stadium project.
The Board this week unanimously approved a motion to sue the city after the City Council last week approved a plan to pump up to $2.4 billion into redevelopment of South Park, an area near the Staples Center arena and just west of the Fashion District. That plan supports a privately funded 74,000-seat stadium, which would host NFL games and possibly three Super Bowls in its first 10 years, along with a hotel and residential development. The county, however, would like to see the land used for more public uses such as hospitals, which have been financially strapped in recent years.
The city’s plan supports private developer Philip Anschutz and his AEG Corp. using private funds to build the stadium with help by way of $100 million in bonds from the city Redevelopment Agency. City officials say a stadium project would bring thousands of jobs to the area and pump millions into the local economy. Whether any of it reaches the Fashion District remains to be seen. Three Super Bowls can generate as much as $300 million for the local economy, said city officials.
Kent Smith, executive director of the Fashion District Business Improvement District and a member of the Redevelopment Agency’s project area committee, said he doesn’t expect a new stadium to affect business in the district in a big way.
“Outside of bringing a little more traffic to Santee Alley, I don’t see it having too much of an impact, but we still have to see what comes of it,” he said.
The Redevelopment Agency would be granted the power of eminent domain, which allows it to buy out existing property owners to make way for a stadium and possibly a new hotel, but Smith said he does not expect any of the land clearing to reach the Fashion District. —Robert McAllister
