Offices, Stores and Townhouses Planned on 50-Acre Site in Brea
A Santa Monica developer and a family trust, recently awarded the rights to redevelop 50 acres of this city’s downtown, plan to build a mix of offices, stores and townhouses.
The city picked Watt Commercial Development Corp., which also built the Anaheim Towne Center project, from among 30 developers. Watt formed a joint venture with the Craig Trust, a family trust that owns some of the 50 acres.
The city is in the midst of a three-month negotiation over the final form of the deal. Among the points under discussion is how much the joint venture will pay for land that the city has acquired in the neighborhood, said Philip Lanzafame, a Brea redevelopment official.
It is possible, Lanzafame said, that Brea may sell land to the developers for less than what the city paid for it if it is likely that the city will realize other benefits. The project, for instance, will probably bring higher property tax revenue. The city may even buy the Craig Trust land and sell it back to the trust.
“The trade-off is that the city gets what it wants, including something that will generate more tax revenue,” Lanzafame said.
Most of the buildings--including stores along Brea Boulevard and houses in the area’s older residential neighborhoods--will be razed and the businesses and residents relocated.
The redevelopment of downtown has been controversial, with some residents and businesses opposed to leaving the area. Lanzafame said the city sought to defuse the controversy by including residents in the project’s planning. Watt followed their wishes, Lanzafame said, in its plan.
Watt’s architect, McClellan Cruz Gaylord & Associates of Pasadena, envisions a shopping center along Brea Boulevard of two-, three- and four-story buildings, including a supermarket, drugstore, home furnishings store and smaller stores.
The architect said the buildings will not be laid out in the traditional linear fashion of shopping centers, but instead clustered for more of a “downtown” look.
The public areas will be heavily landscaped, the architect said, with some of the new buildings designed to look like the older structures they are replacing.
Facing a park and canal will be two- and three-bedroom attached townhouses, which will be sold, as well as apartments.
Brea has become an office and retailing center for the northeast corner of the county, while surrounding cities have chosen to develop more as residential areas. As a result, a lot of businesses have moved to this city of 34,000, which was once a sleepy oil town.
