GARDEN GROVE : Planners Endorse Downtown Project

An office and retail project called a “focal point of the downtown area” cleared its first hurdle last week, winning the approval of the Planning Commission.

On Thursday, the planners unanimously endorsed a site plan and tentative tract map requested by IDM Corp. of Long Beach. The company plans to construct 116,775 square feet of office and retail space at the northwest corner of Garden Grove Boulevard and Euclid Street.

The 8.5-acre site now is largely vacant, and final approval of the project still must come from the city’s Agency for Community Development and the City Council.

As approved by the commission, the project would be built in two phases. The first phase would consist of a five-story office tower and the surrounding parking area. That portion would have to be completed before construction is begun on the second phase--three one-story garden office buildings along Acacia Parkway on the north and a one-story retail building along Garden Grove Boulevard.

IDM’s mid-rise office tower would be at the southeast corner of the project, across the street from another five-story IDM office building constructed at the northeast corner of the intersection in the late 1980s.

The project is intended to be compatible with the historic Main Street district to the west, officials said.

It is the latest of several development proposals for the site. Previous plans have all been withdrawn, and the land has stood unused for more than a decade.