A CLOSER LOOK -- Residents wonder if Ikea offer is priceless

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Ikea furniture store officials contend the city is a

perfect fit for the nationwide landscape they are trying to piece

together.

The furniture store touts more than 162 stores in 30 countries, with

15 stores in the United States. Almost half of national Ikea stores are

in California, including their current Tustin store, which is looking to

move from the Tustin Marketplace to a 17.2-acre lot in the proposed Home

Ranch site.

Don Collins, the project manager for the proposed Costa Mesa store,

said the company is now focusing on strategically expanding in the United

States.

Not only does Costa Mesa offer an available site -- a parcel of lima

bean farm bordered by the San Diego Freeway, Harbor Boulevard, South

Coast Drive and what could be an expanded Susan Street, complete with a

freeway offramp -- the land is owned by the dynasty, the Segerstrom

family, which shares Ikea’s Swedish heritage.

In addition, the furniture store would move into a 308,000-square-foot

retail building, allowing them to display twice as much retail than at

its Tustin location, Collins said. “We tried to negotiate with the

city of Tustin and our landlords, but after years of the back and forth,

they simply couldn’t give us enough room to make the expansion we were

hoping for,” Collins said.

Collins said a formal agreement between Tustin and Costa Mesa was made

prohibiting any special offers from Costa Mesa to entice Ikea to move.

Tustin city officials could not be reached for comment.

Ikea officials said they need the added space to create a flagship

store, complete with three eateries, professional design consultants and

a supervised children’s play center, complete with a learning center,

Collins said.

“It’ll be much nicer than the pill box of balls they have at the

Tustin store,” he said.

To give the customer a better feeling of how a home decorated with

Ikea furniture would look, the store will also have three full home floor

models, representative of both houses and apartments.

Despite the unique amenities, Collins does not expect customers to

travel from outside the local area. The bulk of Ikea shoppers live within

a 15-mile radius of the store, he said.

“They’ll go to their own Ikea,” Collins said.

The entire Home Ranch project that the Ikea would be a part of has

been met with considerable opposition for the last 20 years. After

gathering months of resident feedback, C.J. Segerstrom & Sons’ third

revision of the project was released last month and included Ikea as a

key source of revenue for the city.

Councilman Gary Monahan said he is looking forward to reviewing the

project and the Ikea component.

“I’m intrigued by the concept that it could bring in around $1 million

in revenue. It can’t be bean fields forever,” Monahan said.

Although the project boasts an estimated $1.2 million for the city in

sales tax, it isn’t enough to convince some residents that their quality

of life is anything other than priceless.

Paul Flanagan, president of Costa Mesa Residents for Responsible

Growth, said the amount of pollution from the traffic that would be

generated from such a large retailer would be irreversible. The

surrounding residents are already subjected to ear-damaging noise and

dangerous streets, Flanagan said.

“I think those neighborhoods are getting a raw deal,” he said. “I live

in Mesa Verde. It’s not going to have a big effect on me. It’ll be hard

getting on and off the freeway but those people in Halecrest/Hall of Fame

and Wimbledon -- they’re the one’s who are going to bear the burden for

the entire city.”

Considerable traffic projects were required by the city, and agreed to

by the developers, to help ease the traffic around Home Ranch. According

to the development agreement, all traffic improvements would be funded in

full and upfront, in order to get them completed before a real effect is

felt.

But Flanagan and other members of the community say it is not enough.

Rush hour traffic in the morning would not be greatly affected by the

Ikea component of the project, Collins said, because the furniture store

does not even open until 10 a.m. Collins said the company is also willing

to rearrange employee schedules if their commutes add to the morning

congestion.

But even C.J. Segerstrom officials admit the evening commute could be

affected. In addition, the expected trips to the store are above what is

called for in the general plan.

Another resident concern about Ikea was the color of thebuilding.

Ikeas are typically a bold blue with bright yellow letters. Proving

they are responding to the community, Ikea officials agreed to reduce the

intensity of the blue by nearly 70%, Collins said. Plans call for patches

of the store’s traditional colors to be muted with glass in some places

and gray paint in others.

“We really are good neighbors,” Collins said.

QUESTION

A perfect match?

How do you think the Ikea proposed in the Home Ranch project fits in

at the site? o7 Call our Readers Hotline at (949) 642-6086 or send

e-mail to dailypilot@latimes.com. Please spell your name and include your

hometown and phone number, for verification purposes only.f7

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .