Redevelopment Continues As Last Business Leaves Miracle Shopping Center

Last Saturday was the last day for the Goodwill in the Miracle Shopping Center on the corner of 9th Street and Palm Avenue. The thrift store will open at its new location across the street July 14, which until a few months ago was a Factory 2-U.

The Goodwill is the last of more than a dozen businesses who have been relocated, compensated or removed by eminent domain from the three-block stretch of land in the last two years as the city's redevelopment agency and Sudberry Development move forward with plans to build new shops.

A new state budget passed Thursday may eliminate many of the state's redevelopment agencies but "the budget thing with the governor does not effect the commitments we had," said Imperial Beach Redevelopment Agency director Jerry Selby.

Money needed to carry out the final stages of the project, which has been a priority in the city's General Plan for years, will come from .

"Unless there's an economic catastrophe, these projects are going forward," Selby said in May.

Fresh & Easy, Panda Express and Starbucks have all made commitments to occupy space in the new $9.1 million 44,500 square foot center, Selby said.

Only four of the businesses who left the shopping center remain in Imperial Beach today: Marco's Italian Restaurant, Ollie Angel's Skate Shop, North Island Credit Union and the Goodwill.

The city's redevelopment agency spent $11.2 million to purchase the property in Feb. 2009.

The old shopping center still needs to be demolished, which will cost more than $500,000.

Then the city will pay up to $2.2 million to make the property level with Palm Avenue before construction of a new building begins.

In total, City Manager Gary Brown estimates the project will cost the redevelopment agency $14.1 million.

A lawsuit is expected from the League of California Cities to protest the new rules for redevelopment agencies that could eliminate the state's more than 400 agencies.

The IBRA and department directors for the city of Imperial Beach met with lawyer Susan Cola Thursday evening. No definitive action was taken, Selby said, but they talked about more the fine details of Assembly Bills 1X-26 and 1X-27.

"One of the uncertainties is obviously this is going to be contested in court so there's going to be months of figuring out what it all means," he said.

Until then, Selby said, it's "business as usual on all third-party projects." That means continued negotiations with Sudberry to sign a disposition and development agreement and to begin demolition in the fall.

"We just don't know all the details and ramifications yet," he said.

One thing he does know:

"This has nothing to do with the value of the work redevelopment agencies do," Selby said. "It's all about the money."

Should the court battle be lost, only larger cities like Los Angeles, San Diego or San Jose could survive, Selby said.

"I realize redevelopment agencies may not have a great name but not many people realize how much of that money goes toward infrastructure and capital improvements," he said.

Construction to the original Miracle Shopping Center began in 1948.

According to "IB: A Pictorial History," Clem E. "Pinky" Norcross and his family built the center which was at the time one of few places to shop in the South Bay and held the city's first movie theater.