The collapse of Anaheim’s deal to sell Angel Stadium to Angels owner Arte Moreno’s company looks like it will conclude without going to court.
Officials for SRB Management, the partnership Moreno formed to buy the 150-acre stadium site, notified the city late Friday that they won’t fight the City Council’s decision this week to void the deal.
“For almost a decade now, Angels Baseball has been working with the city to be able to continue to deliver a high-quality fan experience at Angel Stadium and create certainty on the team’s future in Anaheim,” SRB spokeswoman Marie Garvey said in a statement.
“There has been a lot of misinformation and falsehoods stated throughout this process and we want to be clear, we negotiated in good faith with all elected officials and city staff and created a fair deal that was good for Anaheim and Angels Baseball,” she said. “Given that the City Council unanimously voted to cancel the stadium land agreement, we believe it is the best interest of our fans, Angels Baseball, and the community to accept the city’s cancellation. Now we will continue our focus on our fans and the baseball season.”
It was unclear earlier this week if either the city or SRB would sue over the ending of the deal. The sale agreement allowed SRB to seek up to $5 million plus legal costs if the city defaulted.
The now-defunct deal would have sold the stadium and surrounding land for $320 million, about $170 million of which would have been credited back to the buyer for developing community benefits including 466 units of affordable housing.
The revelation last week that Mayor Harry Sidhu, who spearheaded negotiations, was under federal investigation for alleged corruption, partly in connection with the stadium sale, led to criticisms that the deal was “tainted.” The City Council voted Tuesday to end it.
The city on Wednesday asked SRB to agree that the deal was void.
“We welcome and thank the Angels for their mutual understanding of what is called for in this moment,” Anaheim Mayor Pro Tem Trevor O’Neil said in a statement. “It is the right thing to do.
“But a long-term plan for the stadium site and baseball in Anaheim are still opportunities we want to explore,” he added. “We will continue working to get past this moment with the door open for a fresh start when the time is right.”
SRB’s statement did not address whether Moreno is interested in returning to the bargaining table.
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