Walt Disney Co. has canceled its plans to create a four-diamond luxury hotel in the Disneyland Resort’s shopping district after tax incentives promised by Anaheim were taken off the table.
On Wednesday, the company officially pulled the plug on the planned 700-room hotel. Construction on the project was supposed to start this summer and Disney had already cleared out many long time tenants of Downtown Disney to make room for the proposed resort.
The project had been in limbo since August when the city told Disney that a shift in the location of the project meant it could no longer receive a promised $267 million tax incentive, according to the OC Register.
“We’ve taken the time to review the economics of our proposed four-diamond hotel for Anaheim and have made the final decision to cancel the project,” spokeswoman Lisa Haines said in a statement.
“While this is disappointing for many,” she said, “the conditions and agreements that stimulated this investment in Anaheim no longer exist and we must therefore adjust our long-term investment strategy.”
Disney says it will instead focus on bringing back food and entertainment venues to the shuttered storefronts of that part of Downtown Disney.
Anaheim Councilwoman Kris Murray says redeveloping Downtown Disney will be good for Anaheim’s economy, but the hotel would have been far better.
