One Broadway Plaza has surfaced on today’s County agenda under a supplemental portion. It appears the County of Orange is negotiating (or considering such) with developer Mike Harrah regarding One Broadway Plaza, or OBP.
The City of Santa Ana put OBP on the ballot a few years ago after residents complained about what was supposed to be the biggest office tower in Orange County, at 500 feet, going up right in our downtown area. The voters passed the measure, but the tower was never built.
OBP is supposed to be built 4 blocks west of French Park amid the several charter schools around Tenth and Broadway. The French Park Neighborhood remains deeply concerned about traffic and the lack of requirements on the project to mitigate such.
Local resident and community activist Jeff DIckman is asking residents to “consider contacting your Supervisor, in this case Janet Nguyen of the First District (or all if you like), to express your opinion.” She can be emailed: janet.nguyen@ocgov.com. Nguyen is also the Chairman of the Board.
The Supervisor’s phone numbers are found online at the County’s website.
The agenda item will be heard in a closed session meeting today. Click here to see the meeting agenda.
Closed session means the Board will not take an action on the item. This is an opportunity for the Board to ask frank questions before a hearing likley in the near future.
In Dickman’s opinion, “If government were to occupy OBP, the item would need to come back to either the city or the voters to change the adopted development agreement. The building is supposed to bring in a large new company, not rehouse our government agencies.”
It would be worthwhile to check to see if Chairman Nguyen or the other Supervisors have accepted campaign contributions from Harrah or his company, Caribou Industries.
Here is the County agenda item in question:
S u p p l e m e n t a l I t e m (s)
SCS2. County Executive Office – CONFERENCE WITH REAL PROPERTY NEGOTIATOR – Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.8:
Property Location: One Broadway Plaza , Santa Ana , CA
County Negotiator: Thomas G. Mauk
Negotiation Parties: Caribou Industries, Inc., Mike Harrah
Under Negotiation: Lease Proposal for One Broadway Plaza , Santa Ana , CA
They lied to us! Will they turn the old County buildings into homeless shelters?
Now that Dickman is free to say what he wants, how about making him a regular on OJ?
If Santa Ana’s residents want to stop the growth of commerce and inhibit the first steps into the next decade then all of us will end up paying the price of the disintegration of downtown and neighboring areas. Our property taxes will be negatively affected as will our schools and the entire reach of community resources if we do not accept the opportunies of the future and embrace the commercial prospects before us. Think again on this and see that the construction and use of OBP is a win-win for everyone, especially the taxpayers of Santa Ana and not an edifice of evil that some make it out to be.
Marsh – I’m a bit confused. How will a government tenant generate property tax dollars?
Kay Marsh –
Santa Ana’s schools are already in the toliet.
It’s been nearly 20 years ago the city forced touted the revitalization of downtown Santa Ana and that project resulted in the tenant type housing in the Willard neighborhood.
One Broadway Plaza, nothing more than a glorified memorial to Pulido & Harrah, is not the answer.
The City has a clause in their development agreement that states Harrah cannot relocate City/County offices to his building. This is so he couldnt move all the county offices he owns to the building, thus creating a different void and vacancy in those buildings.
With all that Mike Harrah has done for and invested in Santa Ana, you’d think he would get a little more support from you folks. I’m with you, Kay!
lake havasu city is no fan of mike harah.He rolled into town some 20 years ago and takes what he wants,crushs any one in his way.has no moral compass.have mercy on his soul.
He sido huésped cotidiano de una gran Amistad residiendo en la ciudad de Santa Ana desde hace unos 20 anos. La ciudad de Santa Ana cuenta con una historia que la hace destacable en todo EL PAÍS. Su arquitectura, así como su infraestructura, cuentan con la pasión de su historia, y la capacidad requerida par responder a las necesidades de una ciudad capas de proyectarse en un futuro economico, social y político Nuevo y fresco. El proyecto OBP sera una verdadera osadía, social y económica para la ciudad de Santa Ana y el Condado de Orange. Dicho proyecto convertirá a la ciudad de Santa Ana en un icono del sur de California para este aún Nuevo siglo en cual la humanidad y sus hábitats tendrán que renovarse o sucumbir ante los radicales cambios de nuestra era global. Si al proyecto OBP, el proyecto es un estandarte al cambio, un cambio temeroso pero inevitable. Esta ciudad tiene gente con gran capacitad social y urbanista que no deben permitir perfiles conservadores imposibles de extender sobre las criptas de sus respetables autores que algún día también tuvieron su futuro.