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Concert Hall, Condos Set to Complete Urban Arts Hub



By CHRISTINA ADAMS

Bronze and white fireworks christened Henry Segerstrom’s latest architectural icon in Costa Mesa, cascading off the edge of the $200 million Ren & #233;e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at its Sept. 15 opening gala.

The concert hall and $3,000-per-person gala were milestones in Segerstrom’s push to transform his family’s former lima bean fields into an urban hub of the arts, shopping, business and, more recently, high-rise living.

Segerstrom, managing partner of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons LLC, and others are betting that an expanded arts center, a growing South Coast Plaza, a luxury hotel and the prospect of condominium towers will complete Costa Mesa as a place for people to work, live and play, & #341; la cultural mecca New York.

“This day now means we really have the Segerstrom Center for the Arts,” Segerstrom said at the concert hall’s opening.

Next up: The Orange County Museum of Art is set to move from Newport Beach to the arts complex next to the concert hall.

Four designs for the museum,which may include luxury condos,have been proposed.

Meanwhile, the original Segerstrom Hall at the arts center could be renamed the Segerstrom Opera House, according to Segerstrom.

The cultural moves come as the area around the arts complex is seeing its own big ambitions.

Plans for high-rise condos (possibly starting at $1 million each) cleared Costa Mesa’s Planning Commission and go to the City Council for approval in October.

The tallest proposed tower would be 25 stories.

The first condos could be The Californian at Town Center on Anton Boulevard. Developer Fifield Cos. of Chicago hopes to start building next year and finish in 2009.

Symphony Towers at 585 Anton Blvd. could start in 2008, managed by local developer J.K Sakioka Co.

The art museum with possible condos on top is slated for 605 Town Center Drive.

Los Angeles-based Maguire Properties Inc. plans about 180 condos at Pacific Arts Plaza on Anton.

Segerstrom himself is eyeing two buildings at his Segerstrom Town Center project, featuring condos and offices in one tower, plus a second with 50 condos atop a 200-room luxury hotel on Bristol, likely a Mandarin Oriental.

The hotel is set to be “very high-end, Asian-themed,we’re excited,” Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Katrina Foley said.

“The addition of the condos will put a whole new slant,people will be walking around the area instead of driving,” said Diane Pritchett of South Coast Metro Alliance, an area booster group.

A “unique downtown feel” is developing, said Greg May, a broker with Grubb & Ellis Co. who handles leasing for 750,000 square feet of office space at MetroCenter at South Coast.

“There is an evolution of a cultural center occurring, and it’s certainly attractive to some tenants,” he said.

Other tenants are less concerned about the arts and just are looking for space that fits their needs, May said.

But with low unemployment and recruiting challenges, “some are looking for additional amenities.”

“A place they can work out, shop, eat,that’s an advantage of South Coast Metro,” May said. “It’s evolving to be more of a downtown. No other market in the airport area can say that.”

Even The Irvine Company is getting in on the action.

The company, a rival to C.J. Segerstrom in shopping centers and office buildings, is putting up The Enclave, an apartment complex at Anton and Sunflower Avenue set to be done in 2008.

“What is significant is that they took a ground lease,” Segerstrom said.

The Irvine Co. typically builds on its own land.

Segerstrom said the area’s evolution is what he expected to happen.

“The high-rise condos were all attracted by the area,” he said. “There’s nothing unique about that realization. You can walk to all of the great arts institutions quite easily in New York. We are now seeing residents following the arts. It’s an observation, not a surprise.”

Segerstrom’s other baby, South Coast Plaza, is seeing changes of its own. The shopping center, which does about $1.5 billion a year in sales, is being spruced up.

“We’re redoing all of our common areas, putting in new floor surfaces, new handrails, generally bringing it up to a more modern standard,” Segerstrom said.

Segerstrom declined to comment on reports his family company is spending $30 million on upgrades.

“Budgets are like ping-pong balls,you can hit them anywhere you want,” he said.

Segerstrom said he’s excited about Bloomingdale’s coming to South Coast Plaza. The department store is under construction on the center’s side facing the San Diego (I-405) Freeway.

“Michael Gould, chairman of Bloomingdale’s, is going to make this a lollapalooza,” Segerstrom said. “I told him when you open this, come in as New York, New York. I think the community will go for it in a big way.”

Bloomingdale’s “always wanted to be in South Coast Plaza,” Gould said.

“South Coast Plaza may be the finest upscale mall in North America,” he said. “We just couldn’t get a space that was going to work.”

The space came with Federated Department Stores Inc.’s 2005 buy of May Department Stores and conversion of a Robinsons-May to Bloomingdale’s.

Asked if the growing arts center had attracted Bloomingdale’s, Gould said, “Even if nothing was happening,if it had been standing still,it’s still one of the top three markets.”

Concert hall architect Cesar Pelli, who also designed Costa Mesa’s notable Plaza Tower, said he designed the hall with South Coast Plaza and the surrounding area in mind.

“Our minds have to go where the building needs to go,” he said. “We were aware of (demographic) studies. But they didn’t really affect much the design of the hall. We were designing for a specific client.”

The connection between the two is more than aesthetic.

South Coast Plaza saw higher sales leading up to the gala with women buying evening gowns and jewels for the opening.

“Sure, yes, we did,” Segerstrom said.

Adams is a freelance writer from Costa Mesa.

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