If they sell it, commercial rush will come

Alicia Robinson

Mention a piece of buildable land of 150 acres and you’ll have

developers slavering like Pavlov’s dogs.

One suggestion tucked into the voluminous California Performance

Review, commissioned by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to explore

increasing the efficiency of state government, was that the state

could bank as much as $230 million by selling the 150-acre Orange

County Fairgrounds site for development.

The state owns the land, but the city of Costa Mesa controls

zoning for the property, which at the moment allows open space and

institutional uses but not housing or commercial development.

If the property were to be zoned for development, most of the

area’s major developers would likely come calling.

“I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t have a line around the block of

developers who would like to get their hands on that property,” said

Steve High, president of Strada Properties, a multimillion-dollar

Newport Beach real estate brokerage.

Orange County has a housing shortage of about 12,000 units, and

the fairgrounds land is flat and buildable, High said.

It’s also right near a freeway, surrounded on four sides by paved

roads, and it already has some plumbing and other infrastructure on

the site.

“I would say it is almost a developer’s dream, because all the

necessary support facilities have already been paid by the taxpayers,

and the developer would not be responsible for any of that,” Costa

Mesa City Manager Allan Roeder said.

A PLACE TO PUT HOMES

The California Performance Review suggests brokers and appraisers

estimate the fairgrounds property could accommodate 1,000

single-family homes or some higher, mixed-use densities of retail,

office space and more than six housing units an acre.

One person who won’t be pursuing the fairgrounds sale is 70th

District Assemblyman John Campbell, who suggested the idea in April

as a win for all involved but recently said he’ll abandon the plan

unless Costa Mesa changes its opposition.

Both High and former shopping center developer Tod Ridgeway, also

Newport Beach’s mayor, theorized that if the land gets developed, a

mixture of single-family homes and condos is likely.

“We have a huge pent-up demand for housing at all levels,”

Ridgeway said. “I don’t know how much more commercial need is out

there. Would they put in a WalMart? I don’t think so.”

Development has been tried on the fairgrounds property before, but

none of the plans came to fruition, Roeder said.

Some proposals were intended to complement the fairgrounds’

agricultural and entertainment uses -- a hotel and off-track betting

facility and even a fast-food court were pitched. But people were

concerned about how those uses would affect traffic in the area, and

in the case of the betting facility, they just didn’t want gambling

in the community, Roeder said.

Any development proposal for the fairgrounds site would have to be

approved by the Planning Commission as well as the City Council,

which has said it will not be friendly to rezoning requests, Roeder

said.

That caveat could cast a pall on developers’ interest in the

property, said Frank Haselton, a principal with LSA Associates, a

firm the fair board hired to create a recent master plan for the

fairgrounds facilities.

“The first thing you’re going to do is go to the city and say,

‘What can I do with this property?’ before you would entertain any

type of offer on it,” he said.

STILL A LOT OF IFS

What happens to the fairgrounds will depend on whether state

officials decide to sell and whether Costa Mesa officials agree to

zoning changes.

Ridgeway said if the city refuses an opportunity to plan for

future use of the fairgrounds, it will be cutting off its nose to

spite its face.

But Roeder said he can’t envision a scenario in which the city

would consider development-friendly zoning. If the property does go

on the block, however, the city might be among the bidders.

“Quite frankly, I would not be totally surprised to see an

interest by the city itself in terms of utilizing at least some

portion of the site for public open space,” Roeder said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.