Mall’s Future Is in Flux: Movies or Market?

The Buena Park Mall might be getting new tenants soon, but who is still up in the air.

A large vacant building, once a Fedco and before that a May Co. (before they merged with Robinsons department store), is the subject of negotiations between the city and a potential buyer who wants to tear down the building and develop it into an entertainment complex.

The current leaseholder, however, CDM Investors, wants to sublease the 248,520-square-foot building to Gigante, a Latino-based grocery store chain that has had clashes in the past with labor organizers and is being investigated for discrimination of its workers by the National Labor Relations Board.

Last week, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency approved a resolution to deal with Sunrise Buena Park, a limited partnership. The partnership was created by the Pritzker family (which owns the mall) and the Festival Cos. (developer for the Buena Park Mall) to build a 200,000-square-foot entertainment center that would be anchored by an 18- to 20-screen Loews theater complex.

May Hui, deputy executive director for the redevelopment agency, said they received two statements of interest since December 1999 from companies that wanted to participate in the development. One was Sunrise Buena Park and the other was CDM Investors.

“The Fedco site is an important component of the entire mall, and we’re looking at the big picture,” she said Monday. She said there was limited information on what CDM Investors would do with the property other than subleasing it to Gigante, and are not interested in renovating the site.

Negotiations, she said, usually take 90 to 120 days. If the outcome is favorable to Sunrise Buena Park, then the company would go before the board again for approval. If approved, the board would request Sunrise Buena Park to negotiate with CDM Investors.

If that didn’t work, she said, as a last resort the board would get involved. If negotiations between the city and Sunrise fail, however, CDM Investors would simply continue with their plans.

At last week’s City Council meeting, a representative for Gigante spoke about the Mexico-based grocery chain’s interest in expanding throughout Southern California.

Though negotiations are still in the early stages, Ken Kraus, who works for Festival Management Corp. and is the mall’s general manager, predicted that construction would begin in late summer with the project being completed late 2001. Restaurants, entertainment and specialty shops would also complement the theater, he said.

“We see it as an incredible opportunity to bring a first-rate theater complex to Buena Park. It would be a huge benefit to the property and the city.”

But, Kraus stressed: “The final agreement is subject to those negotiations. Nothing’s final in other words.”

Ana Cholo-Tipton can be reached at (714) 966-5890.