Derelict plaza to fall soon

A shuttered plaza in the middle of Costa Mesa’s Mesa Del Mar neighborhood that residents say attracts transients, drug dealers and curious kids will be demolished within 30 days, if all goes according to the plan passed by the City Council on Tuesday.

The council unanimously voted to give the property’s owner, Oxbow 101, an extra year to turn the beleaguered development into residential property. The El Camino plaza was supposed to be redeveloped by the beginning of this month.

Even though city staff and the property developers say they have an understanding, Councilwoman Katrina Foley, who lives in Mesa Del Mar, is skeptical.

“I’ve been working on this property for three years. Until the bulldozers come out to the site and begin working, I’m not going to believe it,” Foley said.

Erik Weeks, one of the developers, said the property has taken such a long time to develop because of the slump in the housing market.

Weeks said he has tried to sell the property a few times, but the property fell out of escrow each attempt.

Councilwoman Linda Dixon called the issue the “project from hell” and pushed the council to require the developer to put grass and sprinklers in if they were going to leave it undeveloped for more than six to eight months, which drew applause from the handful of Mesa Del Mar homeowners who came to the meeting. The property owners refused to add that as a condition to their agreement with the city, though.

“We don’t want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build something that will just be torn out,” said Steve Sheldon, a spokesman for the developer.

In return for the extension, the city wants the company to demolish the existing buildings before June 19 and turn the fenced-off complex into a fenced-off dirt lot.

“We’re pushing as hard as we can to get them to demolish it as soon as possible,” said City Director of Public Services Peter Naghavi, who thinks the developer will probably finish demolition within a couple of weeks.

The dirt lot won’t be there for a full year, though, Weeks said. He has Riley Homes lined up as the home builder and designs drawn, and he plans to start building in 30 to 60 days.

Weeks said he has to pay a property management company to patrol the property on a regular basis and that he can’t wait to see the building demolished and houses put up in its place.

“Now that it has sat as long as it has, it has become not only an eyesore but a problem for the surrounding community,” Weeks said. “Every month this thing sits there it costs me a whole bunch of money.”

Despite having a full month to complete the demolition of the existing structure, Weeks said he will have demolition crews on the site for planning purposes today.

Weeks wants to move forward with a plan to put 24 single-family homes on the property as soon as possible, so that he can bring them to market fast, he said.

Neighbors share that urgency.

“Since 2001 we’ve been waiting for this project to get somewhere,” said Michael Dilsisian, a Mesa Del Mar homeowner and member of the board of directors of the homeowners association.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].