Price on vacant site hits highs and lows

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- The value quoted by real estate appraisers for a building

the city has eyed for months as a possible new City Hall looks fair, city

officials said.

But Nickolas Shammas, owner of the Spanish-style building on Newport

Boulevard, said the appraisers did not have enough information to

accurately determine its value.

Shammas, a Los Angeles businessman, said it would be impossible to make

an accurate appraisal without a tenant there. The building has been

vacant since 1991 when its last tenant, Pacific Savings Bank, folded.

Neither city officials nor Shammas would release the actual property

value. Donald Lamm, the city’s project manager, said the city promised to

keep the figure confidential when it agreed to share the $20,000 cost of

appraising the building with Shammas.

But Shammas said the value was “irrelevant.”

“The number they computed was ridiculously low,” Shammas said. He said

the appraisers told him they would have valued the building at $30

million if a tenant were there. He said he could rent the building for

$300,000 a month and has spoken to several interested parties.

Lamm said the value the appraisers determined was considerably lower than

$30 million.

“It was accurate and fair in all respects,” he said. “It was not off the

top of their heads.”

In September, the City Council, along with Shammas, commissioned the

appraisers to determine the value of the mission-style building at the

corner of Newport Boulevard and 19th Street. The building is in a

burgeoning downtown area across the street from Triangle Square.

Meanwhile, Vanguard University officials say they are anxiously waiting

for the same appraisers to determine the value of the Civic Center, which

would be vacant if the city decided to move downtown.

University officials told the city it would like to build classrooms,

parking and a building for music classes on the Civic Center lot, which

is adjacent to their campus on Fair Drive.

“Our campus is a little tight,” said Jerry Clarke, director of planning

and construction. “We really need the space.”

The university, which has 1,400 students, launched a $33-million

fund-raising campaign in the fall of 1998 for campus expansions.

City Manager Allan L. Roeder said the city would consider moving its

offices only if it could sell its own facility for an amount equal to or

greater than the cost of a new building.

“We’re still waiting it out to see what the Civic Center numbers are,”

Clarke said. “It would interrupt the deal if it is too high.”

Lamm said he expects the Civic Center appraisal later this week. He said

he anticipates the City Council would begin looking at the cost of moving

to the downtown building in early March.

At that time, he expects the council will decide whether to purchase the

site.