Costa Mesa : Proposal Submitted for Shopping Mall Addition

Plans for a 90,000-square-foot addition to the three-story Bullock’s store in South Coast Plaza will come under City Council scrutiny tonight.

The plan, unanimously approved last week by the Planning Commission, originally had required mall owner C. J. Segerstrom and Sons to erect a pedestrian bridge linking South Coast Plaza with an annex currently under construction across Bear Street.

Associate planner Willa Bouwens said that city planners wanted to see a pair of bridges built that would link South Coast Plaza with a 600,000-square-foot annex across Bear Street and with another shopping area across Bristol Street.

The bridges, she said, would help to alleviate traffic congestion in the area by allowing shoppers to leave their cars and walk to other shopping areas.

However, city planners dropped the bridge requirement before last week’s Planning Commission vote and Bouwens said that bridge plans will be postponed until traffic studies determine the best location to erect the spans.

“It would be terrible to pay the money to have somebody construct the bridges only to find that nobody uses them,” she said.

Although Segerstrom has not yet submitted working drawings, Bouwens said, construction of the new wing could get under way immediately.

Malcolm Ross, director of development for Segerstrom, said that construction would begin next spring.

“We haven’t sat down yet and gone over a detailed construction schedule, but it’s my understanding that they (Bullock’s) didn’t want any major interruptions until after the Christmas season,” he said.