City without site options

A sign on the side of the large empty building on Superior Avenue, near 17th Street and Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa, says a Walgreens is coming soon. But more than a year after the building’s former occupant, Tower Records, left, no signs signal that the drug store is close to opening.

And it appears that city officials are limited in what they can do to prevent the fenced-off property from being an eyesore and a constant target for graffiti taggers. Officials cannot force any business that’s been looking to set up shop up in town to finally open up.

“We would love to see a quality development or improvement in that location,” said Assistant City Manager Tom Hatch. “It’s such a prime and highly visible location.”

Area residents like Jo Carol Hunter, who drives by the building often, want the city to do more. In an e-mail, the Newport Beach resident suggested a column dubbed “eyesores,” highlighting derelict, shuttered or abandoned retail sites in the area.

Such a column, she wrote, might have the effect of “shaming the city or homeowner or landlord or tenant for not acting. It would be bringing something to the forefront that should have been dealt with but hasn’t.”

City officials counter that because the building is private property, they can only get the owner to install a chain-link fence around it if it’s vacant. They say they cannot prevent it from being a target for graffiti, but they can get the owner to clean up graffiti or fix any other visible vandalism damage.

City officials contend that Costa Mesa’s code enforcement department has gotten the owner to remove graffiti from the building’s exterior several times.

Since Walgreens bought the building at 1726 Superior Ave., the store has been closed and fenced off to keep trespassers out, a city requirement for vacant buildings. Mayor Allan Mansoor said it’s a sign of the times when a building at this location has been closed off for this long.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of businesses that are closed and, of course, I’d like to see a new business go in, and anything that we can do to help facilitate that, I’m certainly open to it,” Mansoor said. “But ultimately, it’s up to the property owner to find a tenant.”

Calls to Walgreens’ real estate office in Illinois were not returned.

There have been talks of developing the site or renting it, but nothing official has been submitted to the city, officials said.

Simon Garcia, who manages a Del Taco in the same center, says he’s been waiting for more than a year for the vacant neighboring store building to reopen for business. He hopes that a new store will draw more customers.

“We had more customers when the store was open,” he said. “Their customers or their employees came here, but it’s been a year, so we’re used to it.”

Dan Flecky, owner of the nearby Aloha Grill & Tiki Bar, said he’d also like to see the Walgreens open.

“We need people running around here. It would bring more business,” he said.

Flecky said he had originally thought about turning the vacant building into a restaurant, but changed his mind when he discovered it was too big.