Building Falls Prey to Freeway Widening

The walls came tumbling down at the former Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. offices last week--proof of what progress can cost.

The 5-year-old, 41,000-square-foot structure just south of the MainPlace/Santa Ana mall fell prey to the voracious, $1.9-billion Santa Ana Freeway widening project.

However, unlike other condemned properties swallowed by freeway construction, this one had garnered headlines as one of the state and county transportation planners’ most costly mistakes: The modern brick-and-glass three-story building at 300 W. Owens St. was built after transportation officials learned that the land it occupied might be needed for the expanding freeway.

Indeed, the California Department of Transportation paid $8.1 million to acquire the site last year--six years after the building’s owners purchased the land from Santa Ana redevelopment officials for $936,500.

And because of the recession and other factors, Caltrans’ purchase price was only $100,000 more than what the building’s owners were offered by a prospective buyer in May, 1986.

“We felt it was worth more than what Caltrans bought it for,” said Richard Debeikes, whose Irvine-based company, Halferty & Debeikes Properties, developed the site. “But we also felt we had to compromise with Caltrans or end up in a lengthy court battle.”

Briefly, the saga of 300 W. Owens St. began in 1984 when Debeikes’ firm purchased the land from the city, which had acquired the land for redevelopment. At one point, just before construction, city and Caltrans officials projected a worst-case scenario for the freeway widening that convinced Debeikes’ company to redesign the building and erect it 35 feet from where it was originally planned.

But the new design didn’t take into account the Orange County Transit District’s plans for a so-called transitway in the freeway’s median, reserved for buses and car pools.

Caltrans already knew about OCTD’s plans. But since the Orange County Transportation Commission had not yet signed off on the project and only preliminary drawings were available, the final width of the reconstructed freeway had not been given to Santa Ana officials, who were then advising Debeikes.

The transitway project was approved in late 1986, only a few months after the first tenants moved into the Liberty Mutual building. Caltrans didn’t get around to acquiring the site until May, 1991. Caltrans signed separate relocation cost agreements with the building’s seven tenants.

Unfortunately for taxpayers, similar mistakes were made on other sites, including land that first became a Texaco station and then a Jack-In-The-Box restaurant.

State and county transportation officials insisted that they had little opportunity to acquire land for the Santa Ana Freeway project earlier for lack of funds.

But Orange County voters last year approved Measure M, the half-cent sales tax hike for transportation improvements that earmarked $550 million for widening the Santa Ana Freeway.

A lawsuit challenging Measure M’s constitutionality has prevented the Orange County Transportation Authority from spending any of the money. If OCTA wins, much of the money will be used to acquire land on a more timely basis.

Meanwhile, both Caltrans and OCTA are cooperating in ways to prevent new construction in the path of highway and transit projects.

For example, OCTA has already purchased the old Pacific Electric “Red Car” right of way to protect it from redevelopment projects in cities along the route. This even though there are no firm plans yet to use the route for transit.

Also, Caltrans has created an advance planning office that works directly with individual cities.

“When someone files a (land-use) change with a city, that comes through to our office,” said Linda Wilford, Caltrans’ right-of-way agent for the Santa Ana Freeway project. “When we opened our doors here in Orange County in 1988, most of the right-of-way issues were still being handled in Los Angeles. The Liberty Mutual case fell through the cracks. . . . We didn’t even have any desks.”

Santa Ana Freeway Gaining Ground

Status of land acquisition for widening of Santa Ana Freeway between Costa Mesa and Garden Grove freeways:

Offers Segment Parcels Made Acquired 4th Street to Lincoln Avenue 72 72 60 Santiago Creek to 20th Street 74 72 38 Lincoln Avenue to 20th Street 86 74 47

Source: Caltrans