College to Hold Hearing on Development Ideas

Three developers have submitted proposals to convert an El Camino College parking lot into a retail complex, possibly replacing the lost parking spaces with a structure built underneath campus athletic fields.

The college’s board of trustees, which will hear descriptions of the proposals at a 4 p.m. public hearing Monday, solicited the proposals after a developer suggested that the college could reap as much as $1.5 million each year by leasing the lot, located on the southwest corner of Crenshaw and Redondo Beach boulevards.

Although the main El Camino College campus is located on unincorporated county land, the 1,100-space triangular parking lot being considered for development is in the city of Torrance.

El Camino officials emphasized that they have not decided whether to go ahead with any of the proposals and are reviewing them in “an exploratory sense,” board President Patrick Scott said.

“It’s so preliminary,” Scott said. “It’s an idea that came forward as something that might . . . make our public dollars go further. We’re just exploring all our options.”

Officials first began to consider leasing the 14-acre site about two years ago, when a developer asked Donald Sorsabal, vice president for administrative services, whether the site could be converted to senior housing.

Sorsabal said he rejected that idea because it would have required selling the property, which was obtained by eminent domain about 15 years ago. Legal restrictions, still being studied by attorneys for El Camino, would probably prevent sale of the property, Sorsabal said, but do not restrict long-term lease of it.

Several months ago, however, another developer approached Sorsabal, this time to ask about a long-term lease for a retail complex.

That developer, Paul Quong of Quong Enterprises, told Sorsabal that the college could use lease proceeds from his retail development to build more than 2,000 replacement parking spaces in single-level parking structures underneath El Camino’s athletic fields.

Quong’s proposal calls for building parking structures roughly four feet below grade. The athletic fields and the college’s tennis and volleyball courts would be rebuilt on top of the structures, which would rise about four or five feet above ground.

Officials recently estimated that El Camino needs 1,000 more parking spaces than it currently has and will need even more if the 26,000-student population increases significantly.

Residents living near the college frequently complain to administrators about students parking their cars away from the campus, occasionally blocking driveways and disrupting traffic.

Quong’s proposal “was a unique idea that I never in my life had thought of,” Sorsabal said. “Other districts are using their property for private development, so the idea was not new, but the fact that it could solve several problems at once--I had to share his ideas with the board.”

Intrigued, board members decided to ask other developers what they thought could be done with the parking lot.

Eighteen developers expressed an interest in using the land, 10 attended a session in which college officials outlined possible limitations and three, including Quong, submitted proposals, Sorsabal said.

Quong’s proposal is the most detailed of the three, calling for a supermarket, drugstore, food court and two restaurants. The site plan also leaves room for construction of a state-funded child development center.

Champion Development Co. of Long Beach described its proposal--which calls for a modern brick-and-wood complex of shops and restaurants--as a preliminary package to be expanded on only if college trustees decide to allow development of the lot.

IDM Corp., developer of the World Trade Center in Long Beach, also hesitated to provide a detailed plan, but submitted a proposal for about 75,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on seven acres, with a multilevel parking structure on 4.5 acres and the child-care center on one acre.