SAN CLEMENTE : City Clearing Way for Large Shopping Center
Bringing plans for the city’s biggest shopping center closer to reality, the City Council this week approved a number of key concessions for the project’s developers.
The council’s action will allow the main developer, Ramser Cos. of Costa Mesa, to build 145 single-family homes without first having to construct the 600,000-square-foot Plaza Pacifica shopping center. It also eases requirements for certain street improvements.
The developers had asked the council to relax the rules, saying that unless they could begin residential sales, financing the commercial center would be more difficult.
With council approval given, the first phase of construction can begin, and some businesses could open as soon as 1997, company officials said.
Grading for the 68-acre development could start within the month, said Scott Ramser, president and managing general partner for Ramser Cos.
Under an agreement with the city, developers must pay San Clemente $750,000 if they fail to develop the shopping center. Paul Hegness of Ramser Cos. assured the council at Wednesday’s meeting that will not happen.
Plans for the center, at Avenida Pico and Avenida la Pata, include a 15-screen movie theater, a supermarket, a department store and several other retailers.
The developers say they are negotiating with a department store and a major theater chain, Ramser said.
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