Owners Planning Expansion, Renovation of Older Mall

Owners of the troubled Huntington Center say they are moving ahead with an ambitious plan to remodel the county’s first enclosed shopping mall after years of losing businesses.

Owners met with representatives from the city’s economic development department this week to discuss their plans.

City Council members have expressed concern over falling sales tax revenue after several major retailers pulled out of the shopping center, including JCPenney and the Broadway, which closed its department store earlier this year.

City officials project that sales tax revenue from the 30-year-old shopping center will fall to about $500,000 for 1997, down from as high as $2 million in recent years.

Shopping center owners say they are near agreement on a deal that will bring an 18-screen theater to Huntington Center.

David Jones, vice president of MCA Huntington Associates Inc., owner of the 60-acre shopping center, said the company has a $20-million plan to renovate and expand Huntington Center to make space for a major retailer and restaurants.

“We’ve got a plan to move forward, but we’re not going to duplicate what South Coast Plaza has done or what the Westminster Mall has done,” Jones said. “We’re going to find our niche.”

The mall’s owner was successful in attracting Barnes & Noble, which a year ago opened its second-largest bookstore on the West Coast at the center.

The Burlington Coat Factory has occupied the first two floors of the former JCPenney building for about 18 months. The center is also home to Circuit City, Staples and Montgomery Ward.

“We’re all concerned about the existing businesses at the mall and trying to attract new businesses,” city development specialist Eli Naffah said. “But there’s more of an optimism in the air now.”