Another leasing agent has been dropped after taking its shot at turning around Triangle Square in Costa Mesa.
The mall’s owner, Pasadena-based Triangle Square Investment LLC, decided against renewing the leasing contract for Colliers International Inc.
Triangle Square Investment is interviewing leasing agent candidates, according to Vanessa Showalter, spokeswoman for Charles Dunn Real Estate Services Inc., the mall’s management company.
Colliers is one of several brokerages that have tried their hand at leasing space to retailers at the ailing center during the past few years. Others include Grubb & Ellis Co. and Shapco Realty.
The 191,000-square-foot, three-tiered Triangle Square has been dubbed the Bermuda Triangle by some because of the number of businesses and leasing agents that have come and then vanished from the mall.
Kelly’s Coffee and Fudge Factory was the latest tenant to leave. The shop opened last summer on Triangle Square’s upper-floor courtyard.
Kelly’s Coffee tried to attract customers by hanging its signs so they faced busy Newport Boulevard. The shop was one of few businesses upstairs, along with Sutra Lounge and Edwards Theatre.
Other tenants that have left Triangle Square in the past year include biggies Niketown, Virgin Megastore and Barnes & Noble.
Still under construction on the courtyard level is Chronic Cantina. The Mexican restaurant is expected to open this summer.
The Closet, a Costa Mesa-based clothing chain, is expanding from a smaller space at Triangle Square into the former Virgin Megastore space that faces Newport Boulevard.
Forever 21, the hip teen clothing store, reportedly was interested in opening at the center. But plans fizzled.
The mall shouldn’t struggle, said Don Lamm, development services director with the city of Costa Mesa. The circumstances at the languishing center are “very, very odd,” he said.
Lamm blames the owner, who he said has turned down offers for the mall.
“People are dying to buy the Triangle,” Lamm said. “But the owner doesn’t wish to sell.”
Lamm said he’s heard from two serious buyers, a large developer from Orange County and one from Los Angeles.
The developers are interested in adding housing to the center,a trend in retail development these days.
“The two of them so far have expressed difficulty in contacting the owner,” he said.
Zoning would have to be tweaked for apartments or condominiums, Lamm said.
The owner, a Taiwanese family, hasn’t responded to questions from the city, he said.
“That’s what makes this a strange piece of property,” Lamm said.
Triangle Square was built as an entertainment center. It opened in 1992 at a cost of $62 million.
Capital & Counties USA Inc., a San Francisco-based investment company, sold the center in 1998 to its current owner for a reported $47 million.
The center appears to have a lot going for it. There’s plenty of traffic in the area and the mall has a large courtyard that could be used for music and entertainment.
Triangle Square is the first thing drivers see as the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway merges into Newport Boulevard.
The mall’s difficult parking has been its biggest problem.
But some businesses, such as Sutra Lounge, Yard House and Executive Tans are flourishing.
In its heyday, Triangle Square’s courtyard was full of people hanging out, eating, drinking and dancing.
Thousands of people hung out at the corner of Harbor Boulevard and 19th Street in the mid-1990s, “blasting sounds from the top of the three-tiered structure, (the bands) attracted youthful dancers, hand-holding newlyweds and dawdling moviegoers adjusting their eyes to the sunlight,” according to a 1996 Los Angeles Times story.
Chronic Cantina is hoping to bring some of that excitement back to the mall.
“We’re going to put some life into the food court,” said President Daniel Biello.
The restaurant and bar will feature three-piece Mexican bands, reggae, deejays and live music in the courtyard, where it will set up fire pits and palm-thatched palapas.
Inside, Chronic is putting up plasma TVs. Chronic, which has four other restaurants, also plans to help sell Triangle Square with better signs and advertising.
It plans to buy a full-page “Triangle Square” ad in the OC Weekly, promoting the restaurant and the center, Biello said.
Biello said he and business partner Keith Scheinberg know what they’re up against.
“There’s a lot of negative in this place, but we’re trying to look past that,” he said. “I wish they would just put a little more love into this place.”
