Mr. Essakow,
stop the "Mission Valleyization" of the
San Dieguito River
Valley and greater Del Mar!
*Jeffrey Essakow is a partner of
Protea Properties, the owners and developers of Flower Hill
Mall.
We've
heard the news that you have not renewed the lease for the Ultra
Star Theater, claiming that it was in need of a remodel, used up
too much parking, and didn't pay enough rent. But, why would
they remodel after 30 years, when you wouldn't provide them a long
enough lease to amortize their improvements?
So,
your plan is unfolding just as you conceived it back in 2002, when
you purchased the mall. The theater was on a month-to-month
lease then, and you kept them in limbo ever since, while you
sought out a bigger, national credit tenant, all the while telling
the community that you were going to keep the theater, build a
lifestyle center, and listen to their opinions.
You
have announced that you have signed a lease with Whole Foods
Supermarket, for a store that will be double, or triple the size
of the theaters, and will likely overwhelm all of the daytime
parking, while further exacerbating our area traffic
congestion. We don't need another supermarket, with 6 major
markets within a 2 mile radius, a Henry's across the freeway, and
an existing Whole Foods just a few minutes down the road.
Congratulations, you have now shown your true colors!
Stop
selling your plans and start answering the real
questions about the excessive bulk and scale of your proposed
expansion. Show us a 3 dimensional model that accurately
portrays the full scope of this project and stop producing these
flat 2 dimensional drawings that only experts can
interpret.
Tell us how
you are going to expand your center
upward, outward, and below grade, adding thousands of square feet
of new buildings, and how you intend to resolve the added traffic
congestion, crime, noise, pollution and runoff into our newly
restored river valley, that will certainly come with your
excessive expansion. Tell us why you are planning to forever
change the country coastal character of the greater Del Mar
community, with this urban-scaled shopping center.
Why should your gain, be at our loss? Yes, your mall needs
"renovation" and a face lift. So, get out the
paint, the termite man, the carpenters and the masons, and spend a
few dollars on the existing dilapidated structures. Do not
expand
your center over 150,000 square feet, which would bring it up to a
maximum 25% floor area to land ratio, commensurate with all other
respectable shopping
centers in this area. Keep your structures under the Coastal
Commission's limit of 30 feet high. But most importantly, do not build the
excessive, over-scaled shopping center that you have been
promoting.
Stop
the gratuitous pitch, and start listening to your concerned and
very disappointed neighbors
... the same neighbors that have
been the faithful patrons of your merchants, for far more years
than you have owned this center. Don't spoil a good
thing. It would be shame to see that support wilt away from
your own actions.
And,
now we see by your latest proposal that you have no plans to
"rehabilitate" the existing buildings, that are
obviously in need of a long overdue face lift. Could this
be because you have a secret plan for a Phase 2 of the
expansion? Are you planning to piece meal this
development by completing the construction of this huge new
building and overscaled parking structure, and then returning in a
year or two with a plan to knock down the existing structures so
you can build even more bigger, bulkier, traffic generating
retail? Reading your plan is like reading the tea
leaves, and it doesn't take a psychic to do so. We
(your neighbors) believe that you are clearly out to achieve your
original plan of building in excess of 250,000 square feet on this
tiny lot.
So
the process begins. You will spin your plans and pitch how
wonderful Whole Foods is, while you stick it to the
community. As a neighbor appropriately stated at
the recent Carmel Valley Planning Board committee meeting, "You
[Jeffrey Essakow] are a liar! ".
The
Stakeholders of Flower Hill
