Retail set for State Farm site

Developers planning a large, furniture-focused shopping center

announced Wednesday a list of retailers that are expected to fill

more than half of the center’s available retail space.

Birtcher Development and Investments, based in Irvine, released

the list of tenants at a breakfast event held Tuesday at the site of

the planned shopping center. The company is planning to build the

South Coast Home Furnishings Centre on the land currently occupied by

the former regional headquarters of State Farm Insurance near

Sunflower and Hyland avenues.

Shopping center plans call for the construction of eight new

buildings. Wickes Furniture is poised to occupy the center’s anchor

store space.

The expected bill for the project is $90 million. Birtcher

Development has arranged financing with Key Bank through a joint

venture with Buchanan Street Partners.

So far, retailers have signed on to occupy 55% of the shopping

center. Other furniture stores expected to do business there are

Banner Mattress & Furniture Co., La-Z-Boy, Legends Furniture, Easy

Life Furniture, Munro’s Furniture and Salmo’s Custom Sofa Design.

Brandon Birtcher, president and owner of Birtcher Development,

said the concept for the shopping center is to put stores in one

place, so shoppers could “avoid weekend after weekend of trying to

put their homes together.”

As Birtcher development consultant Alan Tuntland described the

center, the idea is to give shoppers a place where they can wander

from store to store to look at a variety of furnishings.

“We don’t want someone here parking, running in, looking at a lamp

and running out,” Tuntland said.

A food court is also part of shopping center plans. Tuntland said

he expects the restaurants will draw business from shoppers and

office denizens whose workplaces neighbor the planned mall.

Birtcher development acquired the State Farm building for $29

million. Demolition of the building is scheduled for Oct. 7, Birtcher

said. Shannon Hondl, Birtcher Development’s vice president of

marketing and development, said the next round of leasing efforts is

expected to begin around the same time as demolition.

In the two weeks before demolition, Costa Mesa’s police and fire

departments will be able to use the State Farm complex for training

exercises, Birtcher said. Fire Department Capt. Curt Yoder said he

plans for firefighters to take part in exercises in which they will

practice rescuing a lost firefighter in a smoke-filled building, work

on techniques to cut open roofs and bust through the building’s doors

and windows.

“It’s going to be a blast,” Yoder said.

The shopping center is expected to open for business by the first

quarter of 2007.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at

[email protected].