Hollywood Park Plans Ambitious Renovation : Entertainment: Music, retail and gambling complex could bring 5,000 jobs to Inglewood track, officials say.

LOS ANGELES —  Hollywood Park officials today will announce plans to erect a 14,000-seat music center, redevelop part of the racetrack as a retail and gambling complex, and expand the golfing and other recreational facilities already under construction there.

The $100-million project, which government officials say could create as many as 5,000 permanent new jobs, also entails building a new Inglewood police headquarters on land to be donated by the park.

R. D. Hubbard, chairman and chief executive officer of Hollywood Park, is scheduled to make the announcement and unveil some architectural drawings at a noon news conference to be attended by Rebuild L.A. Chairman Peter V. Ueberroth, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Inglewood Mayor Edward Vincent and other officials.

Although the project could provide an economic boost to an area struggling to rebuild after the riots, the expansion of gambling at the park could be a controversial element of the plan. Several Inglewood officials, however, said they believe city residents will favor any effort that could bring in thousands of jobs and several million dollars in additional annual tax revenue.

Hubbard hopes to take advantage of potential tax breaks provided in federal enterprise zone legislation, an idea that has been revived since the riots. However, the project is not contingent on such legislation, a source close to Hollywood Park said.

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp was originally expected to join today’s news conference but will be unable to attend because of a scheduling conflict, a source said. Kemp was invited because he is a champion of urban enterprise zones.

The project could be completed within two years, according to one person involved in the planning.

The centerpiece of the plan is the music center--referred to by those close to the project as a “music dome.” As planned, it would have a retractable dome and retractable walls, making it an all-season facility.

There is some concern that the music center would compete as a concert venue with the nearby Forum, home of the Lakers and Kings. But before going ahead with his plan, Hubbard discussed it with Forum owner Jerry R. Buss, according to Lou Baumeister, president of Buss-owned California Sports Inc.

“We want both tenants to be happy,” Inglewood City Councilman Garland Hardeman said.

Hardeman said that if the entire project goes forward as planned, it will provide the city with more than $5 million a year in additional tax revenue.

A key component of the plan--a “card club” gambling casino at the track’s Cary Grant Pavilion--requires approval of Inglewood voters. The building now is used mainly as an off-track betting facility.

Hardeman and Rep. Curtis R. Tucker Jr. (D-Inglewood) said they expect voters to approve the casino, despite the failure of a card-club referendum some years ago in Inglewood.

Rather than propose a citywide zoning change for gambling, the referendum would be “tailored specifically so that Hollywood Park is the only place in the city that falls within that zoning,” Tucker said.

The redevelopment plan is designed to generate revenue for Hollywood Park, which has just completed a $20-million renovation of its race track, practice areas and barns.

The revenue boost is needed partly because on-track attendance has been disappointing this season. Although the track is in the best shape ever, it has been struck by uncanny bad luck.

The racing season at Hollywood Park began April 29, the day the verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating case were announced.

“The King decision came Wednesday afternoon at about the fourth race,” said one source close to Hollywood Park. “The track was closed Thursday through the following Wednesday--the whole Kentucky Derby weekend, our biggest weekend of the year. We blew $35 million in mutuel play.”

Attendance had been expected to soar that weekend because bettors at Hollywood Park are able to wager on the Derby and other out-of-state races transmitted by satellite to the pavilion.

Observers have said concern about safety in the wake of the riots has dampened attendance since the track reopened. Hollywood Park and the Forum were among the sponsors of recent full-page ads in The Times and other newspapers touting the fact that Inglewood escaped relatively unscathed during the riots.

Besides the music center and pavilion renovation, the project includes construction of an 18-hole putting course--a new golf concept--plus a two-decker driving range, a miniature golf course and baseball batting cages, some of which are already under construction.

An upscale restaurant--”probably the best restaurant in Inglewood,” a Hollywood Park source said--is to be added to the top floor of the pavilion, as are some pricey shops.

Estimates range widely as to how many jobs the project would provide. Hardeman said he had been told the music center alone would account for 1,000 permanent jobs and the casino and pavilion shops another 2,000 to 3,000. Tucker said he had been told the whole project could provide as many as 5,000 jobs.

So far, Hubbard has not asked the city for any new tax breaks related to the project, according to Hardeman.

Hubbard, 56, took control of Hollywood Park last year after a bitter proxy fight with Marje Everett. Hubbard also owns a greyhound racing facility in Kansas, a quarter-horse track in New Mexico and a greyhound track in Oregon. He is one of two people bidding to operate a thoroughbred track near Dallas.

Times Associate Sports Editor John Cherwa contributed to this story.