New Shopping Center on Agenda at Special City Council Meeting

The Imperial Beach City Council will hold a special meeting Wednesday to discuss a contract with developer Sudberry Properties to build a new shopping mall between 7th and 9th streets on Palm Avenue.

Demolition of the Miracle Shopping Center is , said Imperial Beach Redevelopment Agency coordinator Jerry Selby.

Over the past weeks, a development and disposition agreement has been negotiated and discussed in closed door meetings and council sessions. Talk of a new shopping center or development of the area began in the 1990s.

The Breakwater project's preliminary schedule said construction may begin between December 2012 and May 2013.

Under the terms of the DDA, the city will sell the property it bought in 2009 for $9 million to Sudberry Properties for $1.

Another $2.4 million will be spent by the city on street improvements like balancing the grade between the shopping center and Palm Avenue.

The DDA stipulates that the property will be built in two parts, starting with the construction of four buildings. Once they are completed and certain conditions are met, the final three buildings can be constructed. 

In a "transitional" and "uncertain" economy, Sudberry Properties Director of Urban Redevelopment Estean Lenyoun told City Council in May that building a shopping center without enough commitments from vendors could "harm the city."

"We've phased the project this way because we felt it's the only wise way, not only for us but for the city, to not have buildings that would perhaps be dark or vacant to contaminate your trophy and gateway," he said.

Certain conditions must be met in order to close phase one construction. Chief among those conditions may be securing a tenant for the neighborhood market which makes up about one-third of the project's square footage and will sit at the corner of 9th Street and Palm Avenue.

Fresh and Easy, Panda Express and Starbucks have spoken to Sudberry about possibly becoming tenants but no agreements have been signed, Lenyon said.

The second phase of construction should close within 42 months of signing the DDA and requires Sudberry show evidence of financial the second phase. It also requires a tenant be found for the second largest of the shopping center's seven buildings near 7th Street.

The city will have the ability to dissolve the agreement or reclaim property after the second phase if conditions are not met. 

It will cost an estimated $9.2 million to build the new shopping center.

This is agenda item 5.2.

The Breakwater project's environmental impact mitigation plan, coastal permit, design and other necessary filings are also on the agenda for approval. 

This is agenda item 5.1.

Members of the public are invited to comment on both agenda items related to the new shopping center.

Also on the agenda, the city will vote whether or not to approve a final map of a new American Legion Hall and affordable housing building. All other portions of the project received approval from council in October. Construction of a new building could begin by next spring.

The three story building will provide housing to 30 seniors and veterans. 

This is agenda item 2.2.

A new Mayor Pro Tem will be selected from members of City Council. 

Councilman Brian Bilbray has served as Mayor Pro Tem since being sworn into office in December 2010. 

This is agenda item 2.1.