Plan for Brea Development Put on Hold

A plan to build offices, restaurants and a cinema on the Brea-Olinda High School site was placed on hold Tuesday night while the school district finalizes its agreement with the developer.

Brea City Council members set Dec. 17 for continued discussion of the $60-million to $70-million development planned by Lowe Brea Co. across the street from the Brea Mall and Civic Center.

Parking and traffic congestion were the main concerns of residents who addressed the council Tuesday night.

“We’re talking about a lot of people . . . we’re talking about a lot of traffic on State College (Boulevard),” said resident Stan Schmidt, whose backyard faces the street. Schmidt asked for a wall along three blocks of State College. The wall already is tentatively planned, said William Kelly, Brea development services director.

Eight Office Buildings

“Brea Place” would encompass eight office buildings with a total of up to 792,000 square feet of office space, six smaller restaurant and retail buildings with 34,000 square feet and an eight-screen cinema.

The first six-story building included in the 39-acre development on the northwest corner of Birch Street and State College is already under construction and scheduled to be completed by next January.

A second phase on 18 acres on the northeast corner, across the street from the proposed Brea Place, calls for an expansion of the Brea Financial Commons with two more buildings totaling 135,000 square feet of office space, developer Robert Lowe said. The area currently has two office buildings and a restaurant.

The development on the school’s property “is primarily an aid to the school district,” Mayor Pro Tem John Sutton said.

With money raised by leasing the land, the school district plans to raze the present high school and build a new one on a 50-acre lot east of the Orange Freeway and north of Lambert Road.

200-Room Hotel

Meanwhile, officials also are finalizing plans to break ground on the Brea Mall parking lot for a 10-story, 200-room hotel geared toward business clients.

The hotel, which will be completed in 18 to 24 months after construction begins, will include a 300-space underground parking garage. But the mall will lose 165 parking spaces. To make up the loss, the city agreed to add 165 spaces when the mall expands and to add an extra parking structure, Kelly said.

An added parking structure is one of several expansions considered for the Brea Mall. Nordstrom plans to add an extra floor to its building beginning next May, Kelly said. Two more major stores may be joining the mall, and an additional 100,000 to 150,000 square feet of retail space also will be considered, he said.