Compiled by Carol Park and Paul Hughes
Los Angeles-based Zelman Retail Partners Inc. is set to develop the $42 million, 300,000-square-foot Anaheim Westgate Center at the northeast corner of Lincoln Avenue and Beach Boulevard. The center is set to include a 141,000-square-foot Lowe’s Home Improvement and Garden Center and a 57,000-square-foot grocery store. Plans also call for restaurants and a public plaza. Zelman is set to buy the 25-acre site from the city for $17.4 million sometime next year. Fourteen acres of the site are former landfills. The rest used to a house a Tower Records and Circuit City. The city is spending $5.5 million to demolish the buildings, cover the landfill and add a gas collection and venting system. Zelman is set to spend $17.5 million building the stores, installing vapor barriers and other improvements. Zelman plans to have a 10-acre parcel ready for Lowe’s in the second or third quarter of 2008. Zelman is negotiating with two grocery store chains, Bank of America, Chuck E. Cheese and Carl’s Jr. as potential tenants. When finished, the shopping center is expected to employ 600 people in west Anaheim.
Red Lion Hotels Corp. plans to spend $10 million renovating the 314-room Radisson Hotel Maingate near Disneyland. Spokane, Wash.-based Red Lion said late last month it was buying the hotel from Lindquist & Craig Hotels and Resorts for undisclosed terms. The deal is set to close this month. Red Lion plans to renovate guest rooms with granite countertops, flat TVs, pillow-top beds and new furniture. Lobbies, ballrooms and other public areas also are set to be redone.
Irvine-based Brandywine Homes plans to start grading in the first quarter on The Garden District, a housing development on the city line between Anaheim and Stanton. The 14-acre Beach Boulevard site now is home to the Adventure City theme park in Anaheim and Stanton’s Hobby City, which caters to reptile enthusiasts, doll lovers, coin collectors and others. Plans call for 200 homes: 30 detached houses, 16 live/work lofts and 154 townhomes. Designs include landscaping and small gardens along Beach Boulevard, according to Brandywine President Brett Whitehead. “There’s enough concrete out there” already, he said. A pool and park also are planned as part of the project. The homes are set to sell in the $400,000s to the $600,000s. Home sales could start in 2009. An adjacent 8 acres also is being rezoned. For that, Brandywine could bring in other builders. Brandywine has another housing project under way in Stanton, Renaissance Plaza at Beach Boulevard and Orangewood Avenue.
Los Angeles-based Meta Housing Corp. hopes to develop a $6.8 million, 82-unit senior housing complex at 2350 S. El Camino Real. The proposed three-story 74,361-square-foot building would include single and double bedroom units and a 94-space parking garage. The development would replace a former Coco’s restaurant. Elected officials support the project. But the Planning Commission in September sent design plans back to Meta Housing after nearby residents and businesses expressed concerns about the height and size of the project. Meta plans to submit a new design.
Construction of a gas station is under way at Costco Wholesale Corp.’s store. The retailer is adding a 3,840-square-foot station at its Harbor Boulevard store. Longview, Wash.-based Pacific Northern Environmental Corp. is handling the $1.3 million project. The station is set to include eight pumps, a 32-foot by 120-foot canopy and three storage tanks. Completion is slated for November. Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco opened the Fullerton store in 1984.
