Downtown Anaheim to Ride the Inner-City Upgrade Wave

CIM Group Seeks to Wake Up Sleepy Streets

Unlike Angel Stadium a few miles away, where tens of thousands attend baseball games next to the busy 57 Freeway, Anaheim's core is tucked away from major thoroughfares and is a ghost town after office workers head home. That may change a bit, however, if a $100 million, multi-phased project with 500 new housing units and 55,000 sq. ft. of retail brings nightlife to the center city.

By Greg Aragon

Anaheim is hoping 500 new housing units and 55,000 sq. ft. of new retail and restaurant space will turn its downtown district into Orange County's latest hot spot.

While smaller in size than its Birch Street Promenade in Brea, CIM Group's development in Anaheim also mixes loft-style apartments above ground-level retail (rendering courtesy of MBH Architects).

With the help of Los Angeles-based developer CIM Group, California's 10th most populous city has entered the first of several phases of a $100 million mixed-use project. CIM owns property in urban hot spots such as the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Birch Street Promenade in Brea and Old Pasadena.

"There's been redevelopment going on in the downtown area for many years and we've built out about 90 percent of it," said Elisa Stipkovich, executive director of the Anaheim Redevelopment Agency. "But we didn't have the critical mass and 24-hour type of environment that we really need to have successful retail and restaurants."

Although the downtown area sees its share of daytime crowds, by 6 o'clock the streets begin to empty quickly.

"The CIM project will be a great compliment to the civic uses as well as the offices uses that we have here now," Stipkovich added. "It will add the 24-hour- a- day type of activity that is needed for [restaurants and retail] to survive."

Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle called the endeavor "one of the most ambitious public/private developments under way today and a model for urban revitalization." He said that the city of 340,000 people "is growing inward and recreating itself as a modern urban hub."

While city officials were glib when interviewed, representatives from American Constructors, MBH Architects and Kanner Architects did not return several calls to speak about the project.

Currently without an official name, the 7-acre project consists of six sites, located around the Center Street Promenade, the city's historic core. The general contractors are Huntington Beach-based American Constructors and Irvine-based Snyder Langston.

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The first phase, located along Broadway between Lemon and Clementine streets, broke ground on Jan. 27 and was designed by Alameda-based MBH Architects. When complete in the summer of 2005, it will consist of a five-story structure with 6,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail/restaurant space and 95 apartments built over underground parking.

The second phase of construction*-a four-story building across the street from City Hall West*-is scheduled to begin in July and consists of three buildings bounded by Anaheim Boulevard, Center Street Promenade, Broadway and Lemon Street.

Los Angeles-based-Kanner Architects designed the building. It will have 9,800 sq. ft. of street-level retail/restaurant space and 59 loft-style apartments.

RTKL Architects of Los Angeles designed a second building just south of this site along Broadway. The five-story structure will contain 8,400 sq. ft. of retail space, 10,400 sq. ft. for a local heritage center and 68 apartments.

East of this site on Broadway, is the third building, a four-story structure designed by Newport Beach-based 30th Street Architects. It will have 7,286 sq. ft. of ground-floor commercial space and 60 loft-style apartments.

Each building provides underground parking for tenants and businesses and should be completed by the end of 2005.

The third phase breaks ground in the fall and is scheduled to bring for-sale housing to downtown. It represents the largest development parcel in the project and is made up of six, four-story buildings designed by RTKL Architects. The site is east of the Disney Ice Center at the southeast corner of Harbor Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue.

The buildings are designed around a center courtyard and parking. The project includes 10,287 sq. ft. of ground floor retail/restaurant space, 20 town house-style condominiums with residences above street-level commercial space and 109 loft-style condominiums in two- and three- bedroom floor plans. The phase should be completed in spring 2006.

The final phase will consist of 10,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space and 80 traditional apartments. A construction timeline for this parcel, at the southwest corner of Clementine Street and Center Street Promenade, will be determined based on completion of the other phases. This site now serves as the construction staging area.

"We're creating a community that will attract people of every age and interest," said Shaul Kuba, a founding partner of CIM Group.