Segerstroms deliver Home Ranch money

Lolita Harper

The city received more than $10 million from Home Ranch developers

Thursday as part of the project’s first installment of the

development agreement to fund an educational endowment and various

traffic improvements.

City officials confirmed $10.5 million was wired to the city’s

finance department Thursday from C.J. Segerstrom & Sons -- run by the

dynasty family that owns the development site -- as the initial

installment of the development agreement negotiated last year. The

transferred money includes $3.9 million toward city traffic funding,

$4.6 million for additional intersection improvements and $2 million

for an educational endowment.

Don Lamm, the assistant city manager, said the money was received

prior to the issuance of building permits for Ikea -- the retail

component of the project that will break ground first.

Paul Freeman, spokesman for C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, said the firm

is glad the city now has the upfront funding for major public

improvement projects.

“We feel very good about reaching this milestone,” Freeman said.

“We are now in a position to work with the city to advance all the

improvements as quickly as possible.”

Freeman said Segerstrom and city officials will meet next week to

figure out how to expedite the various traffic improvement projects

so they can be well underway by the time the rest of the massive

project begins construction.

The educational endowment money may take longer to reach its

intended recipient, as it must be funneled through the city before it

is handed over to the schools.

The Home Ranch development agreement, adopted last year, calls for

the Segerstroms to give $2 million to foundations at both Costa Mesa

High School, which will receive $1 million, and Estancia High and

TeWinkle Middle schools, which will split the other $1 million.

The City Council, which negotiated the development agreement and

ultimately has a part in how the educational money is distributed,

has said it needs more time to determine how the money should be

spent and who would be chosen to spend it before the city turned over

the funds to the schools’ foundations.

The city also negotiated a $250,000 contribution from C.J.

Segerstrom & Sons for a new stadium and aquatic center at Costa Mesa

High School and $200,000 for the relocation of the Huscroft House, a

1950s Craftsman-style home the city has considered restoring for its

historic value and opening to the public.

Freeman said the stadium and Huscroft House funds will be

transferred in separate transactions. C.J. Segerstrom & Sons has 90

days from the issuance of the first building permit to deliver the

Huscroft funding.

Plans for the Home Ranch site -- bordered by the San Diego

Freeway, Fairview Road, Harbor Boulevard and Sunflower Avenue -- call

for a 308,000-square-foot Ikea store, 791,050 square feet of office

space, 252,648 square feet of industrial use and 192 homes. The

project is finally coming to fruition after nearly two decades of

pitching various proposals to the city.

The City Council approved the 93-acre project by a 4-1 vote in

November, with Councilwoman Karen Robinson dissenting. The

long-debated development survived a subsequent referendum campaign by

an organized group of residents that had been successful in

thwarting the same project for the past 19 years.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at [email protected].