HUNTINGTON BEACH : Council to Discuss Fate of Building

Two weeks ago, an arsonist cost Michael Chainani one of four downtown T-shirt and surfing accessory shops he runs in a choice retail section across from the Huntington Beach Municipal Pier. But Chainani now says that two of his other businesses could go up in smoke.

Since the Jan. 14 blaze gutted Larry’s T-Shirt Shack, the city’s Redevelopment Agency has proposed demolishing the charred store and three other shops--all but one of which houses a Chainani-owned business.

For agency officials, the fire offers a long-sought chance to bulldoze an aging building in the heart of the downtown redevelopment effort. The area bounded by Pacific Coast Highway, Walnut Avenue and 5th and Main streets represents the most nagging obstacle to the agency’s plans.

Known as the second phase of the Main-Pier Redevelopment Project, the block has been the subject of a 20-year dispute between historic preservationists and advocates of new, upscale construction.

The City Council will review two development proposals for the block tonight at a special study session.

For years, agency officials have made it clear that they hope to level the entire block and replace it with residential, retail and office buildings.

They have described their vision of the block as a near-mirror image of the Mediterranean-style Pierside Pavilion, a newly opened complex on the other side of Main Street.

“Our intent is to build something that is more compatible to Pierside Pavilion,” Barbara A. Kaiser, deputy city administrator of economic development, said last week. “We’d like to demolish all of the buildings and build something to three or four stories.”

The City Council last week agreed to demolish the former Terry Buick dealership on 5th Street at Walnut Avenue, which has reportedly become a haven for transients.

On Feb. 4, the council will consider whether to level the Pacific Coast Highway structure housing three of Chainani’s shops and another store.

The building was scheduled to be removed along with the former car dealership, but the council delayed the action at Chainani’s request.

“This is my only bread and butter,” Chainani said of his four shops.

He said he can make do without the doomed Larry’s T-Shirt Shack.

But if his other two businesses in the building are lost as well, he would be left only with his surf-and-sport shop in an adjacent, privately owned building.

He said he would be ruined financially by the time new retail shops are ready to be occupied--which city officials say will probably take between one to three years.

Fire inspectors have condemned Larry’s, but said the other shops in the building can be saved with some electrical and roofing repairs. The Redevelopment Agency, however, might be unwilling to pay those costs, which it estimates would exceed $10,000, Kaiser said.

While Chainani negotiates with agency officials to save his businesses, owners of two buildings flanking Chainani’s stores charge that the proposed demolition is an attempt to isolate their businesses and force them to follow suit.

“There’s absolutely no doubt about it,” said Eldon Bagstad, who for 28 years has owned a two-story building on 5th Street, which today includes his liquor store and Chainani’s surf shop. “I’ve been through this time after time. (Agency members) will do anything they can to get us out of here.”