Tuesday, November 13, 2007

CM PRESS # 238


WESTSIDE BLUFFS LAND RUSH?

At tonight's no-Planning Commission meeting, the commissioners are expected to approve a final tract map and plan for the first major residential/mixed use project to be built in the middle of the 60 acre Westside industrial zone on the Westside Bluffs.

This project, named Westside Lofts by its developer Nexus Development, is on a 6.82 acre site at 1640 Monrovia Avenue that was previously an industrial facility.

As presently planned, Westside Lofts will have 151 residential condo units, 5 live work units, and about 40,000 square feet of commercial space.

The reason this project is noteworthy is because this may be the pump-priming project of the Bluffs area and may start the Bluffs down the path to being a great place to live for those looking for an ocean close location without paying ocean close prices.

To help this project blend into the area, the developer has designed the project with a quasi-industrial look that will include corrugated steel panels on building facades.

The thinking of many Improvers is that once more people actually start living on the Bluffs and bringing their disposable incomes to the area, that a whole cascade of beneficial changes should start taking place that will benefit all of Costa Mesa.

Quality retailers, for example, look at how many people live in an area and what their incomes are before making a decision to open a new store. At the present time, there are very few people living on the Bluffs, so retail stores are largely absent. On weekends and in the evenings the Bluffs are pretty much a ghost town. These condos will help change that.

In addition, over on the Newport Beach side of the Westside Bluffs, that city has already converted one industrial park into residential condos and more may be in the works. These will add to the higher income demographics of the Bluffs and help make the area more attractive to quality retailers.

Improvers have been pretty consistent in saying that they prefer that the Bluffs not be overly planned or manicured, and that the area should be allowed to evolve to its highest and best uses with just a little nudging from local government. This project seems to meet these goals.

Time will tell how the whole area does evolve, but if many Improvers have their say, part of the Westside Bluffs will become a vibrant art colony and destination location for people who like the ambiance of such areas.

During the long Westside Revitalization process that was initiated and kept on track by Improvers over the past few years, there was a fear among some industrial property owners that eminent domain would be used to take their properties, scrape the Bluffs, and build homes similar to what we see in some South County cities.

This was never the goal of the Improvers. However, the Improvers did repeatedly point out that while some industrial property owners were saying that government should just leave them alone with their private properties, that, in fact, the industrial properties were actually being protected by local government and that this was one of the major reasons the Bluffs had not transitioned to higher and better uses as we've seen in other coastal close communities.

Underlying the Improvers' arguments for the evolution of the Bluffs is the sure fact that land close to the ocean is generally more valuable for housing than for industrial uses and that people are willing to pay a premium to live close to the ocean.

Even in a down real estate market, these condos should sell fast. The supply of housing near the ocean is low and the demand is high. When other developers see the response that Improvers expect to see for this project, they'll become believers and will want to take part in what may turn into a land rush in Costa Mesa. Stay tuned.
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