Snyder to Help Develop Huntington Beach Mall

The almost empty Huntington Beach Mall will get a $150-million make-over and a new design under terms of an agreement in which J.H. Snyder Co. will join with Ezralow Co. and the Huntington Beach Redevelopment Agency to revitalize the 1-million-square-foot shopping center.

The enclosed mall at Beach Boulevard and the 405 Freeway will be converted to an open-air shopping center featuring “meandering walkways, plazas, fountains, architectural elements and a significant investment in landscaping,” said Cliff Goldstein, senior partner at Los Angeles-based Snyder.

Goldstein said the mall’s new design differs from a design first proposed by Ezralow, which acquired the shopping center two years ago, but it will still include an “Italian village” look, according to an announcement from Snyder.

Ezralow ran into opposition with its original upscale concept when it tried to get one of the mall’s few remaining tenants, Burlington Coat Factory, to vacate.

When Burlington rejected Ezralow’s offer to buy out its lease, the developer tried to get the Huntington Beach City Council to initiate eminent domain proceedings to remove Burlington, which has about 25 years remaining on its lease. But that effort failed in a council vote against Ezralow.

Burlington will be a part of the new mall, Goldstein said, along with existing tenant Mervyn’s. The renovation plan includes the addition of an 80,000-square-foot cinema complex with stadium seating. The 30-year-old shopping center, which occupies a 63-acre site, also houses some tenants in buildings separate from the enclosed portion. Among them are Barnes & Noble and Circuit City.

The mall will be renamed, but the new name hasn’t been chosen, Goldstein said. Under the original Ezralow concept, the center would have been called the Crossings at Huntington Beach.

The project is being designed by Venice-based Jerde Partnership International, in collaboration with Greenberg Farrow Architects of Tustin. Among the retail projects Jerde has designed are Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles and Horton Plaza in San Diego. Construction is expected to begin by mid-2002, with reopening slated for mid-2003.

Among the reasons for the change in design, according to Goldstein, is that Sears, Roebuck & Co., which was not in the original plan, has acquired a 13-acre site at the center and plans to build a 150,000-square-foot Great Indoors store there.

The center was developed in the mid-1960s by Hahn Co. and was one of the first enclosed shopping malls in Southern California.