El Camino Center targeted

Fed-up Costa Mesa residents are circulating a petition to tear down the remains of the long-abandoned El Camino Center.

The unsuccessful shopping center, which saw its final storefronts putter out nearly a decade ago, has been slated for demolition and a planned development of a number of residential properties since 2001.

Since that time, neighboring Mesa Del Mar residents said, the shuttered building has become a haven for gangs, graffiti and other unsavory elements.

Neighbors hope the petition will convince the City Council to motivate the property’s owners to tear the building down and move forward with planned improvements.

“The property is a complete eyesore: It’s unsafe, not a secured property,” Mesa Del Mar Homeowners’ Assn. President Lisa Reedy said. “We’ve seen kids jump the fence, tear it down to go in — the abandoned buildings there are apparently kind of a hang out for local gangs, hoodlums, the homeless…the list goes on and on.”

One way the City Council could convince the building’s owners, Corona Del Mar based Oxbow 101 LLC, would be to deny a pending extension of their subdivision agreement with the city until the group showed “good faith” in demolishing the property, Councilwoman Katrina Foley said.

“The property is going to be demolished — they just don’t want to do it now, because they don’t want to spend the money,” she said. “Meanwhile, all the residents who are directly adjacent to that center are losing their money and property values because of the actions of these developers.”

But Oxbow representatives said that plans were in the works to move forward with the property.

TR Company Vice President Erik Weeks, the Oxbow member responsible for managing the property, said that the company has been working hard with city staff to move forward with development plans.

“We’ve got a number of really positive things happening with the site, and the city has been really good with helping us to move forward,” Weeks said, adding he couldn’t comment on anything specific at this time. “We’ll let everyone know as soon as there are concrete plans.”

Councilwoman Wendy Leece said she would support the developer’s extension, noting that it has gotten beaten up in the public arena but that she was assured in conversations with the group earlier this week that the project was moving forward.

“They’ve really weathered the storm,” she said.

But Reedy wasn’t buying it, noting that she and her neighbors have heard promises like that before.

“The residents of Mesa Del Mar have been very patient,” she said. “And our patience is wearing thin.”

CHRIS CAESAR may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at [email protected].