Developer Extends Marketplace Talks
A British company has extended by six months its agreement to negotiate with the city on exclusive rights to use 100 acres along Harbor Boulevard for an international marketplace with themed shops and restaurants, city officials said this week.
Matt Fertal, Garden Grove’s director of community development, said London-based developer O.H.I. is proposing the project for a section of Harbor Boulevard just south of Chapman Avenue and plans to spend at least $500,000 over the next six months on design and planning.
The International Festival Marketplace is the second development proposed for that area. Later this month, city officials expect to finalize negotiations with another developer for an 18-acre parcel on Harbor and Chapman.
Called Project E, it would have a multiscreen cinema, shops and restaurants.
More than 120 elderly residents of the Oasis Mobile Home Park, which sits on the city-owned Project E property, have received detailed offers to purchase their coaches, and negotiations for relocation will begin soon, City Manager George Tindall said.
The park will be demolished to make way for Project E, which Fertal described as “an urban entertainment center anchored by movie theaters.”
International Festival Marketplace, by contrast, would be considerably larger, he said, and anchored by retail businesses. But not all of the 100 acres are owned by the city, adding uncertainty to the project, Fertal said.
“This is only a concept--they’re in the creative stages right now. But they’re spending $500,000 to do the concept drawings, and they’ve spent the better part of a year working on this,” he said.
The area has become attractive to developers because of its proximity to the Disneyland expansion in neighboring Anaheim.
“Harbor Boulevard is an economic opportunity for Garden Grove because of the Disney project and resort,” Tindall said. “It’s our opportunity, and we’re moving on it. We have to for our survival.”
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Harbor Lights
Newest on a list of possible developments for Garden Grove’s portion of Harbor Boulevard is an international marketplace of themed restaurants and retail shops. Just north of the 100- acre parcel another urban renewal project, Project E, will move residents out of a mobile home park. Project E negotiations near final.
