Santa Ana’s Downtown Back in Business : Redevelopment: City had long worked to lure commercial tenants to slumping Civic Center area, but being the site of new federal courthouse might work just as well.

City officials have long had high hopes for a parcel of land on the southeastern edge of the Civic Center.

There were plans in the early 1980s of constructing a 32-story tower that would have been the tallest building in Orange County. The plans, however, were scaled back to a 15-story office building connected to an eight-story luxury hotel, parking garage and conference center.

But the concept of Centerpointe, as it came to be called, eventually crumbled under the weight of a countywide office glut and the lack of demand for a hotel. Three years ago, when the city sent out requests for development proposals, there were no significant takers.

Now, there is a plan that Mayor Daniel H. Young touts as the best thing to happen to his city since the development of MainPlace/Santa Ana shopping center.

The General Services Administration has recommended that a new, $80-million federal courthouse be built on the 4-acre parcel near the Civic Center. City officials say they expect Congress to approve the recommendation later this summer.

A new courthouse will not bring in tax revenue that could have been expected from a private development. But Young says it will accomplish an even greater task: It will save downtown.

If the new courthouse is not built in Santa Ana, the mayor contends, other federal offices near the Civic Center would have to move, and downtown’s economic base would erode.

“If the downtown were to lose its identity with that Civic Center, I think it could have a terrible blow to the economy of downtown,” he says. “It would create a major crisis in confidence.”

Although the city has struggled to breathe new life into the downtown area through redevelopment projects, officials had made no plans for the 4-acre parcel--bounded by Broadway and 4th, 5th and Ross streets--since abandoning the Centerpointe project.

What they had expected was that the federal government would formalize a 20-year-old plan to build a permanent courthouse somewhere in the city, replacing the temporary facility that was opened in 1986.

But the city’s plans were threatened when Laguna Niguel and Irvine made strong bids for the project. The federal government already owned land in Laguna Niguel, and Irvine was ready to donate 3 acres owned by the Irvine Co.

Suddenly, the dusty vacant lot in Santa Ana now used by Police Department employees as a parking lot became the city’s trump card. Santa Ana bested all other offers by promising to donate the land for the 218,000-square-foot courthouse plus free parking for federal employees.

The site’s accessibility to public transportation, freeways, the law library, county jail and other facilities also helped sway the GSA’s recommendation in Santa Ana’s favor.

Not only will a new courthouse keep the Civic Center intact, Young and other civic leaders say confidently, it also will have a multiplying effect on the local economy.

The courthouse will draw to the area law firms, court reporters and accountants, officials maintain. A “third tier” of growth will occur in the form of restaurants, doctors’ offices and other support services for the new arrivals, they say.

While the city has not studied the economic benefits of a new courthouse, officials say their expectations of growth are not unrealistic.

According to the GSA report, there are now about 1,700 federal employees in Santa Ana. Also included in the report is a projection that the space requirements for the federal courts and related agencies in Santa Ana will increase from the current level of 75,301 square feet to 182,413 square feet in 10 years.

“We cannot help but believe that those law firms that do practice in the federal system will find it convenient to have offices closer, rather than farther away,” said Bob Hoffman, the real estate manager for the city’s Community Development Agency.

Grubb & Ellis realtor David Lane said two client law firms recently decided to stay in Santa Ana “primarily because they do like to have access to the county courthouse.” Other firms could be expected to do the same now that it appears the federal courts will expand in Santa Ana, he added.

While the city may not be getting tax revenue that could have come from a private development, Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce President Michael Metzler said the city would be better off with a courthouse.

“Everything is a matter of timing in life,” he said. “The commercial development is so over-saturated throughout the region that the chances of a private development are probably quite a bit down the road, if then.”

And the city has not given up totally on getting some tax revenue from that site.

The city’s downtown development manager, Roger Kooi, said that once the federal government decides exactly how much land will be needed, the city may propose using the leftover space to develop commercial or retail businesses.

“We may be able to accomplish the best of both worlds,” he said.

As important as the economic benefits may be, the mayor said, the project will further the campaign to create an image of Santa Ana as a renaissance city.

“What kind of image would it have created if the federal government had left Santa Ana?” Young asked. “Sure, it’s going to have economic benefits, bring in private development. But it would have been a horrible nightmare to try to explain why the federal government had left Santa Ana.”

And a new federal courthouse would reinforce Santa Ana’s standing as the center of Orange County government, Young added.

“It’s a restatement that we are the county seat, that no one is going to abandon downtown,” he said.

A Nod to Santa Ana as Courthouse Site

If the final decision is made to put Orange County’s new federal courthouse in Santa Ana, as recommended by the General Services Administration, officials expect the project will be an economic boom to the city’s downtown area.

Source: General Services Administration