Phoenix Club rises anew

Most members of Anaheim s Phoenix Club believe the city s new arenais just " that s wonderful in German. N ever mind that Anaheim dubbed The City by the River by German immigrants knocked down the German-American association s clubhouse to make way for the $103 million arena. The city s German roots were not forgotten. In exchange for swiping the Phoenix Club s seven acres of land and disco decostyle, old clubhouse, the city gave the club $8.1 million. Redevelopment officials even helped the non-profit club find property on which to build a new m eeting place, only half a block from its form er location. Just like the Anaheim Arena, the new Phoenix Club is prettypalacial. Ausgezeichnet! or wow exclaimed visitors during last week s grand opening as they walked into the impressive atrium of the 49,000-square foot club. The new Phoenix Club boasts an elegant ballroom, loft, sound room, restaurant with a state-off the-art food order system , seves to build an indoor shooting gallery and adjacent Jaege" a place for the guys to hang out. While more than 500 local dignitaries and Phoenix Club members strolled the castle-like structure, enjoying the German music, costumed dancers and exquisite food, club president Paul Gunnemann spoke frankly about how the new building cam e to be. The city went a little bit out of our way to accommodate us, he said. They didn t want to make any enemies with the Phoenix Club. He said the city at first offered them slightly less than $8 million. But after negotiating, both parties settled on $8.1 million. With this money, we went forward, Gunnemann said. This whole thing, I m happy to say, is paid for with a little left over. He said that some members were outraged when city officials said the property would be scrapped to build the arena. To many people, it was totally out of the q