Garden Grove Fails to Hook Developers

The coffee was hot, but the deals were cold.

For the second year in a row, the nation’s largest gathering of shopping-center builders, operators and retailers was more a recessionary wake than the deal-making surge it had been in the past.

“It’s quieter,” said Garden Grove Mayor W.E. (Walt) Donovan as he gazed down a nearly empty aisle in front of the booth the city had set up with the aim of boosting its retail base.

Said another Garden Grove official: “We haven’t had much traffic.” Community Development Director Gregory C. Devereaux said a couple of potential tenants had visited, but at midmorning Wednesday, about 20 hours after the city’s booth had opened, no prospects were in sight.

In a difficult year for the retail industry, Garden Grove was the only Orange County city to rent space at the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual convention, which ended in Las Vegas on Thursday.

Garden Grove, more than other cities in the county, needs new retailers. Unlike its neighbors--with the exception of Anaheim--Garden Grove lacks a major shopping mall. The sales tax dollars generated from such major sources of revenue help cities pay for services.

At the nearby Rancho Cucamonga booth, developers took turns posing for snapshots on a surfboard. Garden Grove officials were giving away free tote bags emblazoned with their theme, “Garden Grove: The right city at the right time.”

The booths, however, were Spartan compared to the full luxury offices installed on the convention floor by developers. Those offered lavish buffets, wine bars and pianists plinking away in the background.

Garden Grove’s setting was little more than a sofa, a few chairs and a small interior office, flanked by a display and a couple of maps. Still, it made the point.

“We’ve got to be able to show what we’re talking about,” Devereaux said in explaining the benefits of having a booth.

City Council members do not necessarily agree. Councilman Robert F. Dinsen said Friday in a telephone interview from his Garden Grove home that he thinks that having a booth wastes the city’s money. The benefits are exaggerated, he said, and the city has already met with most of the developers who show up at the convention.

But Devereaux said the booth has proved valuable to the city in the past few years because of the contacts made there. Deals for new T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s apparel stores were made at previous conventions. And a new Smith’s Food King supermarket at Harbor and Garden Grove boulevards was the outgrowth of another annual conclave.

This year, Devereaux said, the primary goal was to find tenants and developers for 45 acres of property at Garden Grove Boulevard and Euclid Street. And even if that doesn’t happen, city officials said, the convention gives them some insight into what is new in shopping center development.

“It’s important for the council to see what’s happening in the industry,” Mayor Pro Tem Frank Kessler said.