La Mirada Ends Center Development Pact : Redevelopment: The city blames economic conditions for the collapse of the agreement.

The city abandoned a proposed shopping complex last week when it allowed an agreement with the developers to expire.

The complex was part of a redevelopment project planned at Imperial Highway and Santa Gertrudes Avenue.

City officials blamed the project’s collapse on poor economic conditions. The developer, Green Hills Plaza Venture, could not find the financing it needed to purchase the property. And the city’s Redevelopment Agency turned down a request to bail out the investors, said Tom Robinson, La Mirada’s director of community resources.

The estimated $35-million project would have included shopping developments on three corners of the intersection. Only one corner was finished, however.

The whole plaza would have been one of the city’s largest shopping areas. The city wanted to develop the corners to produce more sales-tax revenue. La Mirada has neither a downtown shopping area nor a mall.

The only part of the project that was built includes a Ralphs market, a CVS pharmacy and 20 storefronts for smaller businesses. Three-quarters of the stores are unrented. Two older shopping centers occupy the east corners of the intersection. A medical building occupies the fourth corner.

Getting part of the planned complex is better than getting none of it, Robinson said. Some merchants, however, are not convinced that they are better off.

Ed Moore owns a building on the site. He said the proposed redevelopment has hurt business by scaring away tenants in the plaza where his building is located. “We were 100% rented when this started. We had no problem,” he said.