Riding a Retail Wave

The $170 million Bella Terra open-air mall is expected to generate $1.2 million in sales tax for the seaside city of Huntington Beach. Contractors expect to have the project completed this summer.

By Greg Aragon

Huntington Beach, with its sandy beaches and ideal waves, is known internationally as Surf City.

When the new $170 million Bella Terra shopping center opens late this summer, the city of about 200,000 may also be called Shop City.

The shell of one of many smaller stores under construction at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach is next to an existing Starbucks, above (photos by Greg Aragon).

"We think an open-air lifestyle entertainment center will be a draw for the city and work very well," said David Biggs, the city's director of economic development. "We're estimating that [Bella Terra] will generate about $1 million a year of increased property tax and at least another $1.2 million in sales tax."

Spanning a 60-acre site, the 1,087,000-sq.-ft. Mediterranean-style shopping center is being developed by J.H. Snyder Co., Ezralow Co. and the city of Huntington Beach. To make room for the new mall, the old Huntington Beach Center, an enclosed mall that opened in 1966, was razed.

Bella Terra, which means "beautiful earth" in Italian, was master-planned by Venice-based Jerde Partnership and designed by Long Beach-based Perkowitz + Ruth, which serves as the executive architect.

The project broke ground in April 2004. When complete, it will feature a 20-screen Century Theatres complex with 4,000 seats, and 100 shops and restaurants. The center will be accented by cobblestone walkways and courtyards, water fountains, arcades, gazebos and potted plants to resemble a quaint Italian village.

The complex will also offer an outdoor amphitheater with a 75-ft. radius and a cascading water display as a backdrop for performances, as well as 70 trees that were originally planted in 1966 and will be replanted when construction is complete.

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Rick Overley, the project architect for Perkowitz + Ruth, said the most challenging aspect of the job was the decibel levels produced by a multiplex cinema.

"The theater was originally designed to be double-stacked and have retail underneath it," said Overley, who is also a Perkowitz + Ruth senior associate. That plan was scrapped, he added, because it ran over budget and because of noise and support issues related to high theater occupancy.

"[A movie theater] generates noise and rattles your toenails," said Overley. "When you have retailers below those kinds of spaces, they tend to not appreciate the 3-D effects."

He said the problem was resolved by reconfiguring the site to bring the theatre down to grade level, "which saved about six months of construction time."

Store shells under construction in March. When complete, Bella Terra will feature a 20-screen Century Theatres complex and 100 shops and restaurants. The center will be accented by cobblestone walkways and courtyards, water fountains, arcades, gazebos and potted plants to resemble a quaint Italian village (photo by Greg Aragon).

Currently, all store shells are complete and interior work has begun. About 30 percent of the shops are open, such as Macaroni Grill, Staples, Islands Burgers, See's Candies, Barnes & Noble, Kohl's, Starbuck's and Circuit City. Existing tenants such as Burlington Coat Factory and Mervyn's have remained open during construction, while receiving Tuscan-styled facelifts.

Located off the Beach Boulevard exit of the San Diego (405) Freeway, Bella Terra also features a 1,540-space, six-level Mediterranean-style parking structure, built by Anaheim Hills-based Bomel Construction Co. and designed by Sherman Oaks-based International Parking Design.

Other members of the project team include general contractor Dolan Construction of Irvine (retail core and shell); L.A. Group (landscape architect); and Triple A of Pomona (demolition).