Face lift provides new lease on life
Lolita Harper
COSTA MESA -- The bandages have finally come off and the aesthetic
results of a yearlong face lift to an East 17th Street shopping center
are now visible.
The 17th Street Promenade, which includes Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant,
Garduno’s Express Cuisine and Culinary Wraps, underwent a $12-million
make-over.
For months, the square was covered in unattractive scaffolding and
shabby wooden boards to hide the construction. The new center now flaunts
gabled slate roofs, pitched copper-clad steeples, repaved and re-striped
parking areas, a promenade and landscaping.
In addition to a new look, the center formerly known as Hillgren
Square, was renamed the 17th Street Promenade. The new name and new look
combine to promote a much more upscale shopping destination, said Peter
Desforges, president of WOHL Investments Co., which owns the center.
“We’re thrilled with the final product,” Desforges said. “Construction
is finally over with, but it was a long, hard road to get to this point.”
While the fresh paint and fancy signs are the most noticeable
improvements, they tell only half the story.
Desforges said the previous building had deteriorated so much in the
last 40 years that owners spent more time than anticipated on major
structural repairs.
The $12-million price tag also mandated higher rents and subsequently
forced some business owners from a longtime location. New leases at the
center asked tenants to pay about three times more for rent, business
owners said.
“There were tenants that didn’t fit the image of the new, upgraded
center and were not able to pay the rents that we are now achieving,”
Desforges said.
Businesses such as thrift stores were among those WOHL Investment Co.
wanted to “weed out,” Desforges said. The new image at the promenade
demands more rent but will produce more business, he said.
Martha Yarbrough, owner of Hair Productions, said she has already seen
a “tremendous” pickup in walk-in clientele.
“We love it,” Yarbrough said. “Our walk-in trade is very good, and
more and more people keep coming in.”
Upgrades to the outside of her store have prompted Yarbrough to redo
the interior as well, she said. She has ordered new furniture and a new
desk to fit the overall image.
Yarbrough anticipates even more business when the owners fill the
remaining vacant storefronts.
“Quite a few spaces are still empty,” she said. “It will certainly
help business once those are leased.”
Desforges said he has a lot of interest in the center and is confident
the empty spaces will soon be filled.
“The center sells itself,” he said. “It has location, visibility, a
strong tenant mix -- and it’s the best-looking product on the street.”
* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)
574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .
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