Mall to be transformed

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The wrecking ball is expected to start swinging at

the moribund Huntington Beach Mall by the summer, clearing the way for a

new open-air shopping center many residents have longed for.

“Something has to be done here,” said Irene Mozer, who has seen the mall

deteriorate over the years. “It’s been terrible.”

The new center planned at the corner of Edinger Avenue and Beach

Boulevard is dubbed Crossings at Huntington. It will feature an Italian

village theme that patrons can enjoy as they stroll through two piazzas

on their way to new upscale restaurants and retail stores and an

18-screen movie theater, said Douglas Gray, president of the Irvine-based

Ezralow Retail Properties LLC, which bought the mall in November.

With the demolition expected to begin in May, existing tenants have until

the end of April to move out, he said.

Although many of the small retailers already have closed shop, about a

dozen plan to remain until the bitter end, some drastically reducing

prices and wondering where they can relocate their business.

“This is not fair,” said June Huang, owner of The Scrub Shoppe, which has

sold clothing at the center for more than a year.

The developer should have set aside money for the tenants to help with

moving costs, she said.

David Fanous, the owner of the apparel store Monceau Boutique, said he

needs six months more to find a new location.

But the tenants were supposed to leave by January, Gray said. Ezralow

gave them more time out of consideration for their plight. It would be

financial suicide to let the month-to-month tenants continue to hold up a

$150-million project, he said.

“I’m not going to be the sugar daddy to these people forever,” he said.

Not everyone is getting the heave ho, at least not yet. Negotiations are

continuing with Burlington Coat Factory and Montgomery Wards, Gray said.

Mervyn’s Department Store will definitely stay, in addition to the strip

mall along the property’s edge, where Staples, Barnes & Noble Booksellers

and Circuit City operate, he said.

But the stores at the center’s core, including the Broadway building that

has been vacant since 1996, will come tumbling down, he said.

The new mall, which should be opened by the end of 2001, is expected to

give the city a big boost in sales tax revenue. The city now gets

$800,000 annually, but that figure could soar as high as $2.4 million,

Gray said.

City officials and residents held similar hopes for the mall when former

owner Macerich Co. took over in late 1996. The mall, built in the 1960s,

paled in comparison to the bright successes of nearby Westminster Mall,

South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island. Macerich promised to renovate the

center along the same lines as Ezralow but backed off after its investors

feared the company was in over its head, city officials have said.

The city’s director of economic development, David Biggs, said he expects

Ezralow to turn the center into an “exciting shopping environment” -- a

far cry from what’s there now.

“There’s no reason to go there at the moment,” he said.

Question

SHOP TALK

What stores would you like to see at the Huntington Beach Mall after it

is revamped into Crossings at Huntington? Will you shop there? Call our

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