Ready or not, Pacific City welcomes shoppers
It sat as a stagnant dirt lot for nearly a decade. But now the first portion of the long-awaited Pacific City project in Huntington Beach is coming to life.
The 191,000-square-foot, $135-million retail segment is scheduled to open to the public on Thursday with 14 of the roughly 60 shops and restaurants ready to greet locals and tourists at First Street and Pacific Coast Highway.
Boutique retailers such as Lemonade, Simmzy’s, Irene’s Story and Top Dog Barkery will stand alongside chains such as H&M, M.A.C. Cosmetics and Equinox with hopes of offering a unique beachside shopping experience while maintaining Surf City’s laidback atmosphere, said Linda Berman, chief marketing officer for developer DJM Capital Partners.
“My aspiration, from the very beginning, was to get it right for locals, to capture the vibe of the community, to feel like we’ve always been there and to become a place where people feel at home,” she said.
This weekend, the mall will offer shoppers free tote bags along with special offers from merchants and sample giveaways.
DJM told Huntington Beach City Council members in 2013 that it would have the retail portion of Pacific City open by fall 2015. The project also includes a 516-unit apartment complex and the eight-story, 250-room Paséa Hotel and Spa. The hotel is scheduled to open by the second quarter of 2016, and the apartments by 2017.
The 6.5-acre retail area is a modern take on beach design. There is heavy use of teak, reclaimed wood, stone and coastal shrubbery.
However, on Monday morning, three days before its opening, construction crews were busy installing walkways, stairs and window panels and otherwise getting the units ready for retailers. Lot 579, the center’s artisanal food court, will not be open until February.
“Are we 100% ready for our close-up and ready to open? Probably not, but we’ve got a real place and we’ve got real people coming to it and opening,” Berman said. “We are largely done with the architecture and the landscaping. There’s more to come, but I think we have felt that we made a promise [to Huntington Beach] and it was vitally important that we keep that promise.
“There were a lot of skeptics saying that the lot has been sitting there for years, people made big promises and to varying degrees didn’t deliver.”
DJM is the fourth of six developers to be involved with the Pacific City project. The company came onboard in December 2012 after it bought 11 of the 31 acres owned by developer Crescent Heights.
The project initially was in the hands of Makar Properties and was later transferred to Farallon Capital Management, which sold the site to Crescent Heights in September 2011.
In July 2013, DJM partnered with developer R.D. Olson on the Paséa Hotel project.
Crescent Heights sold its remaining portion of the site to apartment developer UDR in February 2014.
Susan Welfringer, manager of the Huntington Beach Downtown Business Improvement District, said merchants in the area have been anticipating the opening of Pacific City’s retail portion with hope that it will bring more people downtown, which is two blocks west of the shopping center.
Over the years, some residents have been concerned about the possibility of Pacific City drawing customers away from businesses on Main Street. Welfringer said she believes people going to the new retail hub will also stop downtown. But she won’t mind if they don’t, at least at first.
“We think it will bring new people down here,” she said. “If they go to a restaurant there and don’t come to Main Street, that’s fine. They’re coming into our destination area and maybe they’ll come back.”
Berman said she believes Pacific City will complement the downtown area and the city as a whole.
Only time will tell if Pacific City will be a success. Berman said Bella Terra, a shopping destination on the north end of Huntington Beach that DJM also owns, took awhile to find its groove. Bella Terra, which opened in 2005, measures 1 million square feet with 70 stores and 467 apartments.
“I have great confidence in the fact that [Pacific City] will be a big draw and it will come into its own,” Berman said. “No place starts off as successful. There’s a momentum that builds. You have to prove yourself every day.”
