Mission Viejo : Entertainment Mall Expected to Get OK

City officials say they are close to approving a financial package to help build a 200,000-square-foot entertainment mall.

Council members said they expect to complete an agreement in a closed session Monday with project developer Pacific Development Partners of Beverly Hills.

“The differences between us are so minute at this junction, I feel very hopeful that we will have something,” Councilman Lawrence H. Smith said Friday.

Known as Kaleidoscope, the mall would have restaurants, specialty shops, a cinema complex with as many as 16 screens and a multistory parking structure.

The entertainment complex would be on five acres off Crown Valley Parkway adjacent to Interstate 5.

“The mix of shops and restaurants is beautiful,” Councilwoman Sherri M. Butterfield said. “It would be an attractive location that could be a magnet for our city.”

Since winning approval for the project three years ago, Pacific Development Partners, which built Triangle Square in Costa Mesa, has had difficulty lining up financing and prospective tenants.

Last year, general partner Mark Burger asked the city to commit redevelopment funds to the project.

His initial proposal was a 30-year commitment of $425,000 annually. Subsequent discussions raised the possibility that the city might build or lease the parking structure.

Under the latest proposal, city officials said, Mission Viejo’s financial contribution would include purchasing right-of-ways to allow access to the development.