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By DORIS BYRON Register Staff Writer This is 2 game with enough chairs for all the players who want to play. The table stake is 850,000. Put down your money, and we'll deal you in. William J. “Bill” Thom Mayor of Anaheim August 16, 1977 ANAHEIM — When the city council meets here Tuesday, developer David W. Hook says he will be on hand with his $50,000 “table stake.” The president of Sunset Construc tion Inc. of Anaheim says he wants to be dealt in to the development “game” involving the Rampart pro perty, about 18 acres of choice free way property just south of Anaheim Stadium. To date, the only player in the game is Matlow-Kennedy Corp., a Los Angeles-based property management firm. Renfield Kennedy, co-president of the firm, appeared at a July 19 coun cil meeting with an unsolicited pro posal to lease the property and build a $15-to-$20-million office and shopping complex on it He deposited that day a 850,000 let ter of credit to prove his intent. Over the dissent of Councilman Don Roth — who argued that proposals should be solicited — the council voted to draw up an agreement to negotiate exclusively with Marlow- Kennedy. They termed the Kennedy proposal a good one and said they were pleased to negotiate with a developer who was willing to post his money “up front.” Over the years, they said, too many proposals had come and gone sometimes after time-consuming negotiations — without producing a single development. However, a search of city hall files reveals that Marlow-Kennedy was in volved in one of the longest of those fruitless series of negotiations. — the attempt to locate a ‘multimodal transportation center’ on a section of the south stadium parking lot The records search and interviews with some of the players in that 1975 “game’ indicate the council may have believed it was entering a con tract with a corporation — Intermode Group Inc. — owned by Marlow- Kennedy. In reality, the council executed a contract with Multimodal Group, Inc., a California corporation headed by promoter Neil J. “Jack” Sinclair Sinclair was the author of an unsuc cessful project to locate a commuter airport on the stadium parking lot in the late 1960s. Today he says he is a Marlow-Kennedy “‘associate'’ as signed to lining up commercial ten ants for their proposed development The reappearance of old players in the new game is only one of the inter esting aspects of the Rampart negoti ations, scheduled to be discussed for the fourth time in six weeks at Tues day's council meeting. According to council minutes, attor ney Norman H. Smedegaard, then with the Santa Ana law firm of Rutan Tucker, appeared at an April 1, 197. council meeting with a request from Intermode Group Inc. for exclu sive rights to negotiate plans for a railroad station in Anaheim. Smedegaard described Intermode as a corporation owned by Harold Matlow and Kenfield Kennedy of Mat low-Kennedy Corp. He said the firm name was a new one, filed the day before with the secretary of state. Court records show the name change the third in five years for the company's development division was recorded April 4. The council approved the Inter mode request, and on May 20 ap proved a conclusive agreement Smedegaard was present. However, his client was no longer Intermode. The agreement was executed with a corporation named Multimodal Group Inc., headed by Sinclair Smedegaard, now practicing law in Costa Mesa, said the change in negotiators occurred after Marlow- Kennedy lost interest in the project He said Sinclair — who brought the Los Angeles firm to him — assembled the new group (Multimodal) who fin ally signed the agreement. Smedegaard says he notified the city of the change in negotiators verbally. City records show no corres pondence mentioning the change Smedegaard’s recollections are in conflict with those of former city at torney Alan Watts and former Mul timodal president Sinclair. There was simply a name change.” said Watts, who now repre sents Matlow-Kennedy in the Ram part property negotiations. ‘As far as I know, Matlow-Kennedy was not in that proposition. And I'm certain we would have known if the principal had changed. I'm certain they didn't.”” Said Sinclair. * Marlow-Kennedy nor any portion thereof had anything to do with the multimodal (train sta tion) project. Sinclair says it was his own firm that sought the agreement from the beginning, even though state records show Multimodal did not exist when Smedegaard made his first request. Multimodal was incorporated May 20, the day the agreement was approved. records show. Despite Sinclair's disclaimers and Watt's recollections, former city manager Keith Murdoch and two cur rent council members who were on the 1975 council — Mayor Bill Thom and Miriam Raywood — also remem ber meeting Kennedy and discussing the train station project with him. ALL three said they assumed the firm with which the final negotiating agreement was signed was the same one that initially asked for the con tract. That contract expired Nov 16,978, when Sinclair and Multimodal were unable to raise a $300,000 deposit on a 30-year lease On July 177, the comcth was scheduled to act on a staff recommen dation to declare city-owned property at Orangewood Avenue and Rampart Street surplus and to direct the staff to seek developer proposals Two related items included a stat request for authorization to buy seven acres of surplus state land east of the stadium and a request from Matlow- Kennedy Corp. to make parking lot improvements on undeveloped city owned property in exchange for leas ing part of the stadium The city council approved the pur chase of the state land and took no action on the parking lot proposal But they didn't discuss the staff re commendations regarding the Ram part property. One council member, Mrs. Raywood, says she never even saw the recommendation of a list of other interested developers instead. Kenfield Kennedy present ed plans for an office and shopping complex Kennedy proposed leasing the Rampart property and eight acres of the stadium parking lot for 53 years with an option to buy Kennedy asked for an exclusive negotiating agreement to put the lease agreement together, and the council — some of whom had already seen the plans in private presenta tions — agreed. They demanded 350,000 good faith deposit and told staff to come back in three weeks with the contract Council members acknowledged that some would question the agree ment, even as they approved it. Four weeks later, the proposed agreement with Marlow-Kennedy was presented to the council. Drawn up by Watts, the agreement was not the exclusive negotiating agreement originally authorized. Instead, it was a contract for sale of the Rampart property and lease of the parking lot acreage. Hook, one of the six developers who contacted the city before the July 19 meeting, pleaded with the city to solicit proposals from other developers before signing the agree ment. He said he was surprised that the council was already talking about sel ling the land when just two months before he had been told it wasn't available. In response to Hook's pleas, Mayor Thom termed the sale “an open table with enough chairs” for all players He suggested that Hook deposit $50,000 with the city and make his own proposal. But Councilman John Seymour said he considered it a “‘matter of honor” that the council negotiate solely with Marlow-Kennedy unless it chose to return the developer's letter of credit The city attorney was told to analy ze the Watts document and make a recommendation. Hook has since bought a quarter page advertisement in the Anaheim Bulletin urging Concerned Anaheim Taxpayers” to challenge the city's right to sell city-owned land to “anyone of their choice and under the terms of their choice.” The ad hall generated 29 letters by Friday morning, according to the city clerk's office Hook said hell be at the meeting, to find out if the development game really has enough chairs, for all who want to play
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register Evening
Santa Ana, California, US
Mon, Sep 05, 1977
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Alec W.
USA 10 Jun 2026
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