New Disneyland Parking Garage and Transportation Hub

C

choco choco

Well-Known Member
NobodyElse said:
I've been having some random thoughts, and this is all academic, but...

IF:
  • I Owned the Park View Inn property
  • I was assured that the new gateway project was a done deal
  • I heard rumblings from my neighbors that they had no intention of adding "back of property" access to the new gateway
  • I was already planning on demolishing my structures for a new design
  • I wasn't completely married to the currently proposed re-design / rendering
  • I could re-design with proper subterranean parking
  • I could re-design and meet my requirements for number of rooms, etc.
...I might seriously consider using most of my ground level property for a major walkway with small shops and eateries (including IHOP and Coldstone) on one or both sides. That property is roughly in the middle of the "affected Harbor businesses", and could pull in fairly substantial foot traffic from north and south.

Just something to ponder.
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Yep yep. In an ideal world, Disney would have orchestrated a land swap with the Park View, giving them the roughly same size Carousel plot plus a little something something extra for them either to renovate the place or get them off the ground on building something new.

With the Park View plot as the crossing point, they wouldn't have to re-route the monorail, which alone maybe could have made this deal worth it.
 
NobodyElse

NobodyElse

Well-Known Member
choco choco said:
Yep yep. In an ideal world, Disney would have orchestrated a land swap with the Park View, giving them the roughly same size Carousel plot plus a little something something extra for them either to renovate the place or get them off the ground on building something new.

With the Park View plot as the crossing point, they wouldn't have to re-route the monorail, which alone maybe could have made this deal worth it.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm just guessing, but I think Disney is fine with the corridor / bridge being farther North, keeping it's path on property skirting closer to Disneyland because it seems like a priority is to gain space for DCA expansion. (Even at the expense of changing the monorail route.)

Also, it appears that the old Carousel property is about 27m wide, while the Park Vue property (at least at the back) is about 50m. I note that because it appears that the IHOP is actually on a separate parcel. It appears that the new design encompasses both. So including IHOP, that area is 2.33 combined acres, while Carousel is 1.16 acres. I don't see Park Vue going for that swap (without some huge add-ons or something.)
 
D

Deleted member 107043

At the time Disney made the Carousel purchase management stated that the opportunity to acquire property along Harbor is extremely rare, or something to that effect, so thinking that Disney could have easily persuaded Park Vue Inn to sell or do a swap might be a bit naive.
 
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
Many of the Harbor Businesses are long term family businesses, and many of them got a very bad taste in their mouth when Disney was looking to expand in the 1990's, and even before. Disney tried to "steal" these properties with a combination of low prices and saying they would find ways to cut off their business. They also tried to pit each other against themselves, and instead, they grouped together to Disney to take a hike.The bitterness is still there, though a working relationship has been worked out with better communication, they won't sell.

The most famous was the Strawberry Fields...

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940327&slug=1902292

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-02-12/news/mn-1134_1_amusement-park

And the new plans of the Park Vue Inn, which already have Zoning Approval...


http://www.ocregister.com/articles/durand-699428-anaheim-hotel.html
 
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
sirstude said:
With Disney owning the strawberry farm since the late 90s, what is there now?
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What would Disney like to buy? The Hotels and Motels plus restaurants and shops on Harbor, between the I-5 and Katella for resort expansion.

The properties near Ball and Disneyland Drive for additional parking (mainly for CM's)

The properties near Ball and Harbor, once again, mainly for parking.

In a major pipe dream, the properties west of the Resort for expansion. But this would require an expansion of the Anaheim Resort area and a lot of Zoning issues, so very unlikely. If anyone buys it, it might be the city, who then uses it for Convention Center expansion, and to rent the parking spaces to Disney for a profit.

Property near the current Toy Story/Katella Lot (which includes the former Strawberry Field) for parking expansion (currently) and maybe for a third park in long term planning.
 
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
SSG said:
I wonder if Disney thinks the Eastern Gateway will have the incidental benefit of putting a small bit of pressure on the Harbor business by making them a bit less desirable?
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Good question, I do think that is in the back of their minds, but i think reality that most of those businesses won't sell them.

I think Disney found a good partner in Wincome (amazing how both have offices now at the 888 building), and is all for the 4-Star planned for the Anaheim Plaza site.

They would love to buy West Coast University, so that is something to watch. An older building, and not truly dependent on Disney for students, so a decent buy out could get them to move. (But WCU loves the visibility from the I-5.).

But every property other than that (USCIS will become Disney property when the lease expires), has just invested a lot into their property, or is planning to, such as the Park Vue Inn. Maybe the Stovall owned property (BWP Anaheim Inn) and the Desert Inn could get sold or traded for other land, such as the Castle Inn and adjacent empty lot just down the street.
 
NobodyElse

NobodyElse

Well-Known Member
Darkbeer1 said:
They would love to buy West Coast University, so that is something to watch. An older building, and not truly dependent on Disney for students, so a decent buy out could get them to move. (But WCU loves the visibility from the I-5.).
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Some sneaky shell corporation should buy the old Bergstrom's property, build a modern structure with adequate underground parking, then offer it to WCU in trade. ;-)
 
NobodyElse

NobodyElse

Well-Known Member
By the way, I know that USCIS is refusing to leave early, but based on artwork we've seen, they'll be giving up parking spaces (65+ from my estimate). It's interesting that they could work out a partial deal like that. Woe to the employees and visitors on busy days.
 
truecoat

truecoat

Well-Known Member
NobodyElse said:
By the way, I know that USCIS is refusing to leave early, but based on artwork we've seen, they'll be giving up parking spaces (65+ from my estimate). It's interesting that they could work out a partial deal like that. Woe to the employees and visitors on busy days.
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They might regret that decision when all that traffic is going up and down Manchester.
 
NobodyElse

NobodyElse

Well-Known Member
Darkbeer1 said:
Interesting new website set up by the Harbor Boulevard Merchants Coalition. Not much new, but interesting to read that they claim Disney does not want to do another workshop, and now the delays are going to impact the opening of the new Star Wars area, i understand they want a decision quickly, while the merchants want to drag this out.

https://www.saynotodisney.com/
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You're right. Not much new here, but it's a nice consolidated spot for me to reference when picking apart their points (which I might do later). By the way, what's the deal with their main bullet-point sections. Nice paragraphs, but a couple of them end with "Learn more about..." or "Read more about...". With the wonders of html, those would be good places for hyper-text.

I think old "Red" needs some help.
 
SSG

SSG

Well-Known Member
"The project as currently proposed promotes unfair competition. "

Since their businesses exist only because of the resort, the phrase 'No Shizzle, Sherlock' comes to mind
 
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
OK, finally a chance to read the site slowly and fully, and a few comments.

I do agree with the look of the Bridge issue. Disney focused on the areas where their guests will be on it (Walkway and safety fences on the edge), and built a very basic bridge (Think the Disneyland Drive Bridge and Downtown Disney). The city should make Disney spend some money to make the street views of the bridge a bit nicer than Generic).

The rest is pretty much what we have talked about in the past.

Yes, Disney is not talking about the new use of the current Transportation Hub. We know how Disney works, and many of us pretty much know that it will become an expansion of DCA in some way, shape or form. Yes, the final blueprints haven't been made yet, but there have been multiple preliminary ones and debate inside the company as how to move forward. Much of these plans have information folks like Universal and Six Flags would love to know about today. So Disney tells their employees to keep their mouths shut, but the same is done in business every day by many different companies. Does it get frustrating, yes, but it is the way business is done. And since it is on land that already has been appoved by the city, no more approvals are needed to start construction.

Should be interesting to see the date when the actual hearing will be held. Disney is worrying behind the scenes about possible delays.

But Disney is also trying to figure out how to deal with the city in general after the last election...
 
NobodyElse

NobodyElse

Well-Known Member
Darkbeer1 said:
I do agree with the look of the Bridge issue. Disney focused on the areas where their guests will be on it (Walkway and safety fences on the edge), and built a very basic bridge (Think the Disneyland Drive Bridge and Downtown Disney). The city should make Disney spend some money to make the street views of the bridge a bit nicer than Generic).
Click to expand...

They do and they don't have a point here. We can look throughout O.C. and find more and less aesthetic examples of pedestrian overpasses. I guess what stands out to me is that they're saying "we don't like it" without giving any real suggestions for what they would like.

Let's look at their "Design Concerns"

"The proposed pedestrian bridge design is out-of-scale and out-of character with the neighboring properties and the community as a whole."

I'm not sure I'm qualified to determine what's "out-of-scale", and that's actually subjective to an extent, but the neighboring properties are a mix of designs and character.


"It’s clear that the aesthetics of the proposed bridge as viewed from the street are a secondary concern to Disney."

That seems accurate, and realistically understandable.


"The appearance of the bridge will have great importance as it will serve as an entrance to the "resort district" and become a signature image of the city of Anaheim."

Did "Red" run this one past his coalition? If this will serve as an entrance, is he now excluding Camelot Inn, Fairfield Inn, Courtyard, HoJo's, etc. from the Resort District, or is it Tropicana Inn, Park Vue, the Best Western's etc. that no longer qualify? ;)


"In a community with such exciting examples of public design as the Artic Station and the Convention Center, why is the community subsidizing such a poorly designed bridge?"

I'll leave this rhetoric alone for now.
 

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