Newport firm buys Triangle Square

After years of vacancies and charges of mismanagement, Costa Mesa’s Triangle Square mall has new, local owners.

Newport Beach-based Greenlaw Partners worked with Commonfund Realty Inc. to purchase the 191,000-square foot retail center for an undisclosed price. They’ve hired Santa Ana-based RiverRock Real Estate to manage the center.

Local officials and business leaders are excited about the potential Triangle Square has for Costa Mesa. Keith Scheinberg, co-owner of Chronic Cantina, one of Triangle Square’s newest occupants, has been eagerly anticipating the new ownership and management since the restaurant opened last month.

“I think any change is good change,” he said. “We’ve really kind of got a momentum going and I think that with what … we understand the new owners have planned, I think Triangle Square is going to be a real hotbed for news for the next couple years.”

Plans for a combination of residential units and businesses was proposed to the Costa Mesa City Council in July. No specific plans have been submitted to the city, but the new owners are working with staff, although nothing has been set in stone, Mayor Allan Mansoor said.

“They’re in contact with staff, and they did put forward that general plan screening request,” he said. “We haven’t been given any specific plans yet.”

The idea of a hybrid center is something that has worked in other cities, said Ed Fawcett, president of the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce.

“I hold out a high hope that the new ownership will really take a good personal and aggressive interest in Triangle Square because it can be a gem, just a great business focal point for the area,” he said. “I think its an interesting concept, and it could revitalize that center entirely if the city is really interested…. I think it’s certainly worth looking at, and it could be a method by which to save Triangle Square from what it is now.”

In 2005, two of the mall’s biggest tenants left the center and many of the retail spaces remain vacant. The previous owner, Triangle Square Investments LLC, was criticized for not marketing the mall enough.

Officials from RiverRock Real Estate and Commonfund Realty Inc. were unavailable for comment.

Although Greenlaw Partners would also not comment about how the new owners plan to market the mall or what other business plans the company may have for Triangle Square, people seem to have high hopes about its future.

“It needs some new ideas and a breath of fresh air, so I’m optimistic they’ll bring forward some revitalization to the center,” Mansoor said.

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