Shopping Centers

After a long wait and a bitter fight over a few million dollars, Pasadena officials joined developers Danny Bakewell and Lonnie Bunkley on Friday in a ground-breaking ceremony for a shopping center. The Fair Grove Renaissance Plaza, a 5.1-acre project, is expected to serve as the "anchor of the northwest Pasadena community," Mayor William Paparian said.

Construction is scheduled to begin on Long Beach's largest retail project--a $100-million shopping center whose prime location on former naval land once triggered criticism from neighboring cities. New onramps and offramps from the nearby 605 Freeway remain to be built, but Phoenix-based Vestar Development Co. said it expects to break ground this month on the Long Beach Towne Center.

A large-scale renovation of the Aliso Hills Shopping Center will be considered by the City Council tonight. Shopping plaza owner Aliso Equities Ltd. is asking the city for permission to tear down a Sizzler restaurant to allow a 10,000-square-foot expansion of an adjacent Ralphs supermarket. The plans also call for a 1,000-square-foot retail store, a new look for the 14 storefronts in the 60,000-square-foot plaza and signs that will illuminate the shopping center's new name--Alicia Town Center.

In a sign of confidence in the region's recovering economy, developers have resumed construction of a $150-million shopping center in Oxnard. Work on the Collection at RiverPark, a large outdoor mall intended to look like a small-town shopping district, was halted in 2009 when the nation was in a recession. Consumers closed their wallets and retailers canceled expansion plans. "There was a lot of fear in the markets in 2008 and 2009, and that has gone away," said Colm Macken, chief executive of Aliso Viejo developer Shea Properties.

Pan Pacific Retail Properties Inc. said it acquired Sycamore Plaza, a neighborhood shopping center in Anaheim, for about $7.4 million. The center at State College Boulevard and La Palma Avenue is 94% leased, and is anchored by a Stater Bros. supermarket and Sav-on Drugs. Pan Pacific, which is based in San Diego, is an equity real estate investment trust that acquires, renovates, develops and manages shopping centers in the Western United States.

Las Brisas Towne Center, a $13-million, 132,302-square-foot shopping center, will be built next year on a 13-acre site at Interstate 215 and Los Alamos Road in Rancho California, according to a spokeswoman for the developer, Watt Commercial Development Corp., Santa Monica.

The Times Square Shopping Center in Newbury Park has named an Encino concern as its property management accountant. La Cagnina / Riley Associates was appointed to manage the books of the 29,000-square-foot center on Michael Drive. La Cagnina / Riley manages more than 6.5 million square feet of shopping centers and other commercial property in California and the Southwest. Times Square's tenants include an International House of Pancakes restaurant and a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store.

Camarillo's skateboarders will soon have to find another place to practice their sport after the City Council voted unanimously last week to ban skateboarding at selected commercial and retail centers in the city. The council approved the urgency ordinance Wednesday, making it illegal to use skateboards, roller- or in-line skates at shopping and commercial centers posted with the ordinance.

A Ventura-based developer is seeking approval to build a shopping complex on five acres at the corner of East Main Street and Telephone Road, one of the few remaining vacant commercial parcels in the central part of the city. The Ventura Planning Commission will consider the proposal Tuesday to build two retail buildings and remodel a warehouse on an adjoining parcel at the southwest corner of the busy intersection. "It's a real significant location," said City Planner Mitch Oshinsky.

A Los Angeles developer announced plans Monday to build a $90-million discount shopping center on 85 acres just south of Six Flags Magic Mountain. Riley/Pearlman Co. must still obtain permission from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to build the unenclosed center, dubbed the Valencia Marketplace. Residents of the nearby Stevenson Ranch housing development expressed concern Monday about the project, particularly about traffic.