Long Beach : Marina Pacifica Revamping Held Up Over Sale of Land

Plans by a prestigious developer to redesign the deserted Marina Pacifica Mall in Long Beach have hit a snag, and the real estate deal that merchants expected to close last month remains stalled in negotiations, several officials said.

Los Angeles-based Triple Five Joshi Development Co., known in the trade as the “guru of shopping centers,” wants to buy the waterside mall currently in foreclosure, but the sale is hung up over the purchase of the land on which it sits, a company official said.

The land is owned by the Alamitos Bay Partnership, which has leased it to a string of mall owners for years. But Joshi wants to buy the land outright in order to build not only a new shopping complex but a 100-unit condominium, officials said.

Negotiations over the price of the land are expected to be settled within 30 days. Meanwhile, the Nautilus Plus gym has closed, leaving the bankrupt mall--now in the hands of Bank of America--about 90% vacant, merchants said.

Joshi is a partner of the Triple Five conglomerate that built one of the world’s biggest shopping malls in Edmonton, Canada.