The Orange County Register
October 23, 1999
Felix Sanchez

Slowly the ambitious Gotcha Glacier extreme-sports park planned for Sportstown is taking shape.

In presentations to Anaheim planners and policy-makers, project managers are revealing just how technically intricate the $105 million snowboarding, surfing and ice-skating attraction will be.

Gotcha Glacier officials also said they have signed Houston-based Enron Corp. as a major investor and partner in the park -- expected to open in Spring 2001 to more than 1 million first year visitors.

Enron will help engineer the park, which will require snow, warm water and ice to coexist under one mammoth roof in what is now an Edison International Field parking lot. The Enron Energy Services division, which specializes in management of air-conditioning, heating and lighting systems, will handle Gotcha Glacier's snow and ice-making.

An Enron spokeswoman declined to comment on the firm's investment in Gotcha Glacier but said the division already handles engineering for facilities such as the new stadiums for the San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Browns sports teams.

Gotcha Glacier officials would not elaborate on the financial packaging being put together to pay for the park, but one retail analyst said delays in starting construction are likely due more to Glacier's engineering than to problems with money.

"This building, it is huge. It's taller than (Edison Field), bigger than the (Arrowhead) Pond and has an incredible refrigeration system," said Wally Limburg, with Strategic Retail Advisors of Newport Beach. "I think their problem is not so much the financing as it is the engineering."

Backers intend to raise more than $100 million from the sale of corporate bonds to help finance Gotcha Glacier, which will also feature shopping, skateboarding and other extreme-sports attractions and retail stores. That's in addition to money put up by Enron and Broadcom Corp., co-founders Henry T. Nicholas III and Henry Samueli.

"I have seen bond financing done before. It does work," Limburg said. "It is a lot of money, but it's not like this is not an everyday occurrence....Maybe you and I aren't used to seeing this sort of thing, but that type of financing is done all the time on Wall Street."

Enron's investment adds credibility, Limburg said, noting that is is one of the largest energy companies in the world and understands the technology needed to build such a park.

"That was a very smart move, to make them a partner," he said.

Don Murray, an attorney with Dewey Ballantine in New York, said the firm marketing the bonds, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, could not comment about the transaction because of securities laws.

Gotcha Glacier officials are talking about how their project is evolving on the drawing board.

On Wednesday, the Anaheim Redevelopment and Housing Commission reviewed both interior and exterior site plans and forwarded them to the Planning Commission. After Monday's commission review, the City Council is scheduled to vote on the plans in mid-November.

The building's exterior would essentially remain much like originally announced. It's planned for a corner of the Edison Field parking lot, near Katella and the MetroLink train station. It would tower above the nearby Sun Theatre, rising to a height of 15 stories, or 173 feet.

But recent retooling of the interior has helped delay the initial construction from August to January.

Among key changes:

•Problems with humidity from the wave park and the chance it could rust piping for the snow-making machines have led engineers to place the final 12 feet of the surfing park outside, so steam and humidity can escape.

•The snow park would have 3 1/2 acres of snow, with three 150-foot-wide skiing/snowboarding runs 550 feet in length. A chairlift to the top of the runs has been replaced by moving people conveyors.

•A full-sized ice-skating rink would be suspended above part of the snow runs.

•There would be 40,000 square feet of restaurants and retail space, with a 24-hour fitness center and a bar and restaurant on the upper levels. Alcoholic beverages would be served but restricted to the bar and restaurant area.

A study by Economics Research Associates of Los Angeles puts first-year Glacier attendance at about 1.074 million, said Bradford Kinney, chairman of Glacier Sports Centers.

"We're optimistic we will exceed the attendance figures," he said.