Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : CITIES : San Diego Firms Picked for San Juan Project

The San Juan Capistrano Community Redevelopment Agency rejected local favoritism and voted to award the contract for the Historic Town Center project to Oliver McMillan and Collins Development, two San Diego-area firms.

The agency, which comprises the City Council members, voted 3 to 1 Tuesday for the San Diego team over a group including the family-owned Birtcher development firm, which has longstanding ties in San Juan Capistrano, and J. W. Colachis Resorts, owner of the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego County.

Many area residents had spoken out in recent weeks in favor of Birtcher, whose top executives live in a six-acre compound in the historic mission city and who have established themselves as prominent philanthropists in the community.

But Mayor Kenneth E. Friess and council members Phillip R. Schwartze and Anthony Bland said the McMillan-Collins plan adhered closely to the council’s original request for a town center design and would be less costly for the city than the Birtcher-Colachis plan.

The McMillan-Collins plan centers on a town square that would face north toward Mission San Juan Capistrano. Where El Camino Real now runs, a pedestrian shopping area would be created and lead back to a 125-room hotel off Forster Street. Another courtyard would connect a hotel to Camino Capistrano. The plan includes underground parking, 60,000 square feet of retail shops and as many as four new restaurants.