Lew Wolff’s concept of a ballpark village is about to look less innovative as housing giant Lennar and the city of Anaheim are about to embark on a massive mixed development project immediately to the west of Angel Stadium. According to a fresh-off-the-wire press release, the development will encompass 54.1 acres with up to 3,813 homes and nearly 200,000 square feet of retail/commercial space. The release claims that the project will be “Orange County’s LARGEST urban redevelopment and FIRST downtown American ballpark community!”

The first thing that hits is the name: A-Town. I feel mildly offended since the Angels have been using the “A-Team” moniker informally for some time, yet there’s only one true team called the A’s. In actuality, it’s a clever, ambiguous name. People can associate the project with the Angels or Anaheim, which could be convenient if Angels owner Arte Moreno follows through on his off-in-the-distance threat to move the team (which is highly unlikely).

The devil is in the details. To build the project, 54 acres of light industrial land called the “Platinum Triangle” is being cleared out and rezoned. Does that sound familiar to anyone? In this case, the Angels aren’t involved in getting the project built. They apparently aren’t partnering with anyone either (based on reports I’ve read so far) so they wouldn’t see the proceeds, as the A’s would for their ballpark village plan.

In essence, the project is simply infill housing with a “ballpark” brand affixed to it. The City of Anaheim has other infill projects in the works. The towers being built near AT&T Park make mention of their proximity to the ballpark, but don’t use it as a chief selling point. Padres’ owner John Moores bought much of the land surrounding Petco Park to build his hotels and condos. A-Town has some interesting similarities to what Wolff has envisioned. Conceptually, it’s not as thorough since direct links to the team aren’t there, but it should provide a reference point for those looking to keep track of such projects.