Compiled by Julie Anne Ines, Chris Hannigan
Initial construction of The District at Tustin Legacy shopping center at Jamboree Road and Barranca Parkway is under way. Plans call for a 14-screen theater with some 3,000 stadium seats, as well as stores including a Target, Whole Foods, TJ Maxx & More, Petsmart, Office Depot and Tilly’s. The stores are set to open in April. Crews are working on street upgrades and on extending Von Karman Avenue northward, creating a segment of Warner Avenue and widening Barranca Parkway. Vestar Development Co. and Kimco Realty Corp. are developing The District as part of the redevelopment of the former Tustin Marine base. Separately, Tustin’s library is set to be razed and replaced with a larger, 32,400-square-foot facility in 2008 as part of the area’s redevelopment.
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City officials recently approved a Home Depot at 19101 Magnolia St. after nearly two years of debate. The 130,536-square-foot home improvement store is set to replace a shuttered Kmart at Garfield Avenue and Magnolia. It’s set to be Home Depot’s second store in Surf City. A traffic light is slated to be installed along Magnolia as part of the project.
The Huntington Beach City Council OK’d a seawater desalination plant proposed by Poseidon Resources Inc. The facility, which would be the first of its kind in OC, still needs other approvals and faces environmental opposition. The plant would convert 50 million gallons of seawater a day into drinking water. It would serve existing water lines throughout the city. Installation of two pumps,in Irvine and Orange,is part of the plan. Several governmental agencies, including the California Coastal Commission, still must sign off on the project.
The city’s redevelopment agency is set to vote this month on a proposal to turn a city-owned house into low-income homes. The Clementine Condominiums would have 54 apartments and meet a state mandate for affordable housing. The city a year ago paid $425,000 to buy the site on Alta Street.
AT & T; Corp.’s Cingular Wireless is seeking city approval to build a wireless network tower at 22322 Pacific Park Drive, at the Moulton Niguel Water District site. Cingular is looking to build a 30-foot tower, which would be the city’s first wireless tower. Cingular plans to build the tower to look like a tree to blend in with the surroundings. Earlier this year, Cingular said it planned to spend $43 million building towers for phone service throughout Orange County as part of an $800 million California spending push this year. The county could see 75 towers added in 2007, according to Cingular. The Aliso Viejo project is one of several tower requests in various cities by Cingular and rival Verizon Wireless.
Aliso Viejo’s City Council approved the renovation and expansion of a sports field at St. Mary and All Angels School. The expansion is for the school’s lacrosse, softball, soccer and flag-football teams. Plans call for using fake grass to save water as well as recycled rubber and sand. A larger fence with netting also is planned to keep balls away from neighboring homes. The project is part of St. Mary’s “Completing the Dream” fund-raising campaign.
A Target has opened at Westminster Mall at Goldenwest Street and Bolsa Avenue, replacing a Macy’s store. Target joins department stores Sears and JCPenny at the mall. Target bought the space from Federated Department Stores Inc., which acquired May Department Stores last year and closed some stores in OC and elsewhere.
Santa Margarita High School is being renovated and expanded. Crews are clearing the way for a 50-meter pool and aquatic center. Plans for a classroom, sports facility, science lab and parking structure also are in the works.
