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 .