CATCHING UP WITH ...

-- Amy Spurgeon

Four years ago, failed negotiations between Costa Mesa’s South Coast

Plaza and Bloomingdale’s -- the upscale, New York-based department store

-- meant Fashion Island had a better chance at landing the mega-popular

store.

For months, Bloomingdale’s officials met with management from South Coast

Plaza and Fashion Island to determine which shopping center would better

serve as a strong West Coast anchor.

Estimated sales tax revenue for the city that landed Bloomingdale’s

swelled to the $750,000 range.

A 1995 article that ran in the retail publication Women’s Wear Daily

reported that some of South Coast Plaza’s department stores, fearing

competition, voiced opposition to the possible lease, therefore

“freezing” the deal.

South Coast Plaza officials at the time said the article was

misrepresentative of the actual discussions.

The city-backed effort to bring Bloomingdale’s to Fashion Island came

just three months after the city council approved an additional 300,000

square feet of retail space at the center, according to then-City Manager

Kevin Murphy.

“We’ve expressed to The Irvine Company, which owns Fashion Island, that

we would be helpful in any way that we could in bringing Bloomingdale’s

to the city,” he said at the time.

Fashion Island spokeswoman Nina Robinson said the department store has

been a welcome addition since opening to the public in November 1996.

Bloomingdale’s opened a home store one year later in the Atrium Court at

Fashion Island.

“We are absolutely thrilled with Bloomingdale’s,” Robinson said. “They

have been overwhelmingly positive with the center and Orange County

shoppers.”But not everyone is thrilled with the retailer. Newport Beach

Chamber of Commerce President Richard Luehrs said the store failed to

renew its membership in 1998, based on a decision made in New York.

Bloomingdale’s has told the chamber that they have processed a new

membership application, but Luehrs said he has yet to see it. He said he

is surprised that Bloomingdale’s allowed the lapse in membership at all.

“We think that with the commitment they have made in the community, they

should support their local chamber,” Luehrs said. “They should be listed

among us.”As far as the sales tax generated by Bloomingdale’s, state law

prohibits the city from disclosing information for any taxpayer, said

Glen Everroad, the city’s Revenue Department manager.

However, Everroad did say that department stores at Fashion Island as a

whole generated $1.6 million in the 1998-99 fiscal year -- up 5% from the

previous year.

“That’s not bad,” Everroad said. “I would put those stores in the ‘doing

well’ category.”Officials at Bloomingdale’s could not be reached for

comment Tuesday.