Ward’s Closure Bolsters Firm’s Plans to Build ‘Italian Village’

The closure of Montgomery Ward stores across the nation may open the door for a struggling Huntington Beach shopping center that owners hope one day will rival the Block at Orange or the Irvine Spectrum, officials said Friday.

Ezralow Retail Properties LLC plans to redevelop the 63-acre Huntington Center into an upscale “Italian village” with specialty stores, a cobblestone plaza, restaurants and a multi-screen movie theater. City officials have embraced the idea, offering as much as $17 million in redevelopment funds to help out. But two of the center’s three remaining tenants--Montgomery Ward and the Burlington Coat Factory--had refused to move, blocking the effort to demolish the 35-year-old center.

Mervyn’s, the only other tenant, has been told it may stay and be a part of the retail lineup when the mall reopens as the Crossings at Huntington Beach. All other stores are now vacant--some for as long as seven years, said Gus Duran, Huntington Beach redevelopment manager. Ezralow may bid in Bankruptcy Court for Montgomery Ward’s Huntington Beach property--a 100,000-square-foot store and nearly 13 acres of parking. Ezralow owns the rest of the center, in a prime location on Beach Boulevard off the San Diego Freeway, Duran said.

The Burlington Coat Factory’s 30-year lease would be the only remaining obstacle to the developer’s plan.

‘We’re a Destination’

Bruce Hackel, Burlington Coat Factory’s West Coast regional manager, said his company has no plans to move and that Montgomery Ward’s demise won’t change that decision.

“We are a destination store, so we really don’t rely on other stores to bring us business,” he said.

Hackel said his company had a “pretty good battle” with the developer, which tried, with the help of some city officials, to oust Burlington through eminent domain proceedings. But the City Council lacked the votes to order Burlington to leave.

Since then, Burlington has spoken with the developer to see if it can be included in the redesign plan. Duran said he thought the developer would be open to redesigning the project to include Burlington, but Hackel said he has not been told of a decision and Ezralow officials could not be reached Friday.

“They have no choice, really,” Duran said. “Burlington has a 30-year lease with 25 years to run. And it’s leased at a very low rate.”

The project could begin to take shape in a couple of weeks, as soon as ownership of the Montgomery Ward property is settled in bankruptcy court, Duran said.

Developers had hoped to begin work in early January, opening the theme center in time for the 2001 holiday shopping season. Duran said owners won’t be far behind that timeline if they can obtain the property.

Montgomery Ward has said it will keep its stores open for liquidation sales.