City picks builder in project to fight blight
Old shopping center set to be redeveloped
Union Tribune
By Janine Zúñiga
STAFF WRITER
Mar. 16, 2006
IMPERIAL BEACH – The city agreed last night to work exclusively with one of the country's largest home builders to redevelop a blighted shopping center on Palm Avenue.
At a meeting held in the city's Community Room to accommodate a large crowd of residents, the City Council voted unanimously to enter into a six-month exclusive negotiating agreement with D.R. Horton.
“Approving the ENA allows us to move forward and gives us the financial resources to address everyone's concerns,” Mayor Diane Rose said. “We really need to take this step. It's not a commitment to build the project. It's just the next step.”
For years, the city has wanted to redevelop the aging 70,000-square-foot shopping center that sits at Ninth Street and Palm Avenue. In October 2004, the city agreed to spend as much as $8 million in redevelopment bond money for its renovation.
The 1960s shopping center has a number of thrift stores and no major anchor. D.R. Horton is planning upscale shops and restaurants, pedestrian plazas and extensive landscaping. Plans include razing the current shopping center and shutting down two streets to make them part of the project.
Preliminary plans for the redevelopment project include the same amount of retail space plus 223 condominiums. Two properties west of the shopping center – a doctor's office and North Island Federal Credit Union – are included in the project area. The area is in a commercial zone so the city may take the land using eminent domain.
However, that may not be necessary because the property owner, Dimenstein Family Trust, has teamed with D.R. Horton, American National Investments and the credit union to redevelop the site. Additionally, city officials have made it clear to the developer that it must do all it can to keep the doctor's office in the city.
Now that the exclusive negotiating agreement has been signed, city officials say the city and D.R. Horton will be able to meet more often with tenants and landowners to work out a plan for each business, most of whom will not likely be moving into the new development.
Public workshops held during the past few months have resulted in big turnouts by concerned residents. Those who live behind the proposed 40-foot-high development project have been especially concerned that the project will add a considerable amount of new residents and traffic to the city.
Many residents were pleased that Rose suggested to the developer before the vote that the number of condominiums in the project be reduced.
The project, called South Beach Colony, is expected to bring an estimated $233,000 a year in retail sales tax revenue to the city. The property now brings in about $20,000 a year in sales tax revenue.
According to the agreement, D.R. Horton will provide up to $250,000 to the city for various costs it incurs, including attorney, consultant and appraisal fees. The developer also will submit a refined development plan – and update it as necessary – that will show specific elevations, sizes, design theme, landscaping, signage, lighting and parking at the site.
The developer will help the city prepare environmental studies and will create a list of costs and market studies. The agreement also requires D.R. Horton to incorporate affordable housing into the project.
Work on the environmental documents may begin by mid-May. By October, the city hopes to enter into an agreement with the developer to build the project. Construction may begin one year from the signing of that agreement.
Janine Zuniga: (619) 498-6636; janine.zuniga@uniontrib.com
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