Community college district delays decision on apartments

Deirdre Newman

The Coast Community College District board voted unanimously Friday

to reject all bids it received for a project to develop apartments on

land it owns near Orange Coast College.

The board was set to chose a bidder Friday, but decided against

it, citing unclearness and confusion in the request for proposals

process.

Board members said the new request, which they hope to release on

Dec. 10, will be more specific to give all bidders an equal chance.

“We want the new request to be as fair as possible to all

potential bidders, and encourage them to raise sufficient funds so we

can continue our educational mission,” board member Walt Howald said.

One of the bidders, Barry Kamel with Casden Properties of Beverly

Hills, said the board made the right decision.

“They did the wise thing, unquestionably,” Kamel said. “In doing

real estate analysis, there are a lot of variables. You need to limit

the number of variables as much as possible if you’re going to end up

in an apples-to-apples situation.”

Thirteen proposals where submitted by the Nov. 3 deadline. The

board was scheduled to select a bidder on Nov. 5, but postponed it to

Friday because of questions about the proposal process.

The request asked developers to design an apartment project with

at least 304 units on a lot of indefinite size, described as a

minimum of 12.14 acres and a maximum of 13.77 acres. This caused

confusion, since developers based their projects on different size

lots, Howald, said.

The proposal also asked developers to create a project with a

minimum number of units that exceeds the city’s density allowance.

The maximum density in the city’s general plan for residential areas

is 20 units per acre. The new request will leave the number of units

open so developers can work with city officials on their bids, Howald

said.

“It would be difficult for a developer and the district to come to

an agreement without the city,” he said.

It will also name a minimum of how much the district wants to

receive in rent, which will probably be between $900,000 and $1

million per year, Howald said.

The board was impressed by all the bids it received, he said.

“We had some terrific, well-known, qualified bidders,” he said.

“All were very interesting and showed creativity.”