Anaheim officials are building a 3-acre park behind Angel Stadium along the Santa Ana River as they look to transform a corridor along the river into open space years after Orange County officials cleared the homeless encampments in the area. 

It’s a project that’s raising renewed questions on the future of the publicly owned stadium amid the bombshell announcement last week that Angels Owner Arte Moreno was selling the team right on the heels of city staff publicly hinting at potential development at the stadium.

The park, dubbed River Park, is expected to open next summer and will feature designs that reflect the region’s native ancestry along with a playground, exercise zone, a sundial, picnic seating, panels about native wildlife, an interactive canoe and a poem that stretches the length of the park.

But it won’t have parking. 

At least not right away.

City staff publicly said there were obstacles to building parking for the space which they didn’t specify and they’re banking on future development at Angel Stadium to use their parking lot despite officials repeatedly denying any long term talks about the taxpayer-owned property.

“The parking will eventually come in future discussions with the Angels and the development of that site, we’ll all interact and connect too,” said Rudy Emami, the city’s public works director, at a city council meeting at the tail end of last month. 

“The fact that we’re bringing the park first really enhances and enforces any future development that’s going to be planned for that property to really take advantage and face and incorporate that park into it.”

Emami’s remarks came a week before Moreno announced he was selling the Angels to the owner of the Los Angeles Rams professional football team years after a city hall corruption scandal imploded a deal to sell Angel Stadium to Moreno.

[Read: Angels Owner Arte Moreno Sells Baseball Team Four Years After Stadium Deal Flop]

Meanwhile, Anaheim officials are moving forward with a projected $200 million – according to the budget – revamp of a corridor along the riverbed stretching from Angel Stadium past the Honda Center to the Anaheim Coves. 

Officials say River Park will kick off implementation of that revamp – dubbed the OC River Walk Project – aimed at transforming the river to recreational open space equipped with a new trail, pedestrian and bicycle bridges and inflatable dams.

Last month, city council members voted unanimously to give a roughly $4.5 million contract to a Palm Desert based landscape contractor to build the park – the 69th one in the city.

According to a staff report, the park’s construction will be funded entirely through environmental grants with officials allocating nearly $5.5 million towards the park in their current budget. 

The park and the overarching river walk project are not the only developments being built near Angel Stadium.

Across the freeway, the Samueli family is developing a new mixed-use entertainment district around the Honda Center dubbed OC Vibe with restaurants, hotels, parks and a concert hall.

Meanwhile, Anaheim officials have denied any long-term discussions on another Angel land sale following the corruption scandal despite a private meeting between city officials, real estate consultants and Angels executives in 2025 to discuss the surplus land act.

Following the announcement of the Angels sale this month, Mayor Ashleigh Aitken told Voice of OC it was too soon to talk about another stadium sale.

“It’s premature to discuss any future development, but I do plan on seeing more October baseball in Anaheim,” she said in a text message.

Aitken, however, told The Athletic the same day that she was hopeful the new owner will work with the city on a development plan for the stadium.

“Not to put the cart ahead of the horse,” Aitken was quoted saying. “But if the deal goes through, and if it’s approved by Major League Baseball, then I’m very hopeful that he’s going to want to work with the city to come up with a really innovative development plan that would benefit the residents. Youth sports fields and housing, and potentially hotel development. And make it a vibrant place.”

Editor’s note: Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken’s father, Wylie Aitken, chairs Voice of OC’s board of directors.

Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.

Related