Town Center approval postponed

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- Commonwealth Partners LLC thought they were ready to

begin their part of the Town Center project after the City Council gave

preliminary approval Feb. 5.

But a month later, the council is scheduled to take another look at

the project.

The developer has appealed, asking the council to postpone final

approval and to step in to help it overcome a development agreement

dispute with the city attorney’s office.

The Town Center project will transform South Coast Metro into a

pedestrian-oriented cultural arts district with a new symphony hall,

expanded South Coast Repertory Theater, and an art museum or academy, as

well as restaurants, office space and improved parking.

South Coast Plaza Partners, the Orange County Performing Arts Center

and Commonwealth Partners LLC have collaborated on the project, which is

bordered by Bristol Street, Sunflower Avenue, Avenue of the Arts and the

San Diego Freeway.

The council was scheduled, before the appeal request, to consider the

project for final approval today.

Tom Wood, assistant city attorney, said the city attorney’s office is

recommending that the council separate the Commonwealth part of the

project from the others so the other two owners aren’t “held hostage.”

The council could give the South Coast Plaza Partners and Orange

County Performing Arts parts of the project final approval and postpone

making a decision on the Commonwealth part of the project until the

development agreement is settled, Wood said.

The 54-acre project has been in the works for months while the city

and developers have struggled to overcome a variety of obstacles.

Among the chief problems was how to ensure the Isamu Noguchi

California Sculpture Garden remains open to the public for as long as

possible.

The disagreement continues to center on the sculpture garden, even

after the council agreed in February that the owners would maintain the

gardens for “the useful life of the buildings.”

The city attorney’s office and Commonwealth have not been able to

agree on a definition for “useful life.”

The city attorney’s office has defined the end of the “useful life” as

until either of the two buildings adjacent to the garden remains

standing, Wood said.

The developer thinks the “useful life” should end when the buildings

are no longer “economically sustainable” as office buildings, said Phil

Schwartze, planning consultant for the developer.

Noguchi’s style was to consider adjacent buildings part of his

sculptures, he said.

Schwartze said the developer could be prohibited from improving the

buildings if it is stuck in an agreement to maintain the sculpture until

the buildings collapse, since some of the building edges are part of the

sculpture.

But Wood said the idea that a building’s life lasts until the building

falls are “a common-sense meaning of the term.”

“Now they want to define useful life to mean something rather short

and we’re not buying it,” he said.

Councilwoman Linda Dixon said she doesn’t think Commonwealth’s

definition is good enough.

“That means if the owner doesn’t take care of the building, there

could be no protection for the Noguchi gardens,” she said.

Despite the dispute, Schwartze said the city and the developer are “a

hair’s breadth away from working out the details.”

“These are just minor items in the development agreement that we want

to get straightened up,” he said. “Honestly, you look at the agreement we

drafted and the one the city attorney drafted and it looks the same.

There are just subtle word differences that has impact to the lender.

Even though it’s a 40-page document, we could probably change 10 words

and we’re done. We’re happy to get going.”