Stadium Proposal Moves to Warner Center

You’d think getting support for a sports stadium for the San Fernando Valley would be a cinch, what with traffic and travel time to downtown and Valley-ites’ frequent complaint that the area holds no local cultural attractions. But Mark Steele knows different. His Oasis Stadium project is still just a vision despite years of effort. After several efforts to find a location in North Hollywood and Northridge, Steele has now turned his attention to the Warner Center area, and in recent weeks he took his ideas to the Livable Communities Council meeting of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. Calling it a “mini-Staples for the Valley,” the Valley native is pitching a 10,000-seat arena that would serve as a venue for professional roller and ice hockey, boxing, collegiate and high school basketball and volleyball and other sports as well as concerts and other events. He told the group he has the financing in place to purchase the land for the estimated $207 million project. “If we are successful in finding a suitable location in Woodland Hills we will generate approximately $91 million a year in taxable revenues and create 175 jobs,” Steele told the Business Journal. “And of that $91 million, about $45 million will be generated by the hotels and restaurants and shops in the local area.” Previous attempts to locate the stadium in Northridge fell through when California State University Northridge officials chose a plan (since scrapped) to use their available land for a retail center, and hopes to build the project in North Hollywood were dashed when officials decided the concept did not fit well with the NoHo Arts District. Steele is now eyeing three sites in the Warner Center area: Pierce College, the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne campus at Victory Boulevard and Canoga Avenue, and the Northrop Grumman campus at Canoga Avenue and Burbank Boulevard where he believes a portion of the properties might be used for the arena. Steele stated emphatically that these are potential sites and that no discussions are currently taking place. Steele told the Business Journal that City Councilman Dennis Zine, whose district includes the potential site areas, has requested he pitch the concept of The Oasis Stadium to the Woodland Hills and Warner Center residential and business community, and he will begin doing that next month. Bob Scott, an Economic Alliance official who chaired the Livable Communities meeting, pointed out that Valley residents have not historically supported efforts to bring sports events to the area, and strongly opposed efforts to locate any 1984 Olympic events here. “Basically the NIMBYs came out in force and said they didn’t want anything in the Valley,” said Scott.