Greatest housing post ever??? (and from my home town!)

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CM and CDM, great posts and insightful. Well thought out and extremely informative. The entrance next to Vons is the shortest route to the freeway access. Although State street is supposed to be the primary entrance but freeway convenience will dictate its functional entrance. This center needs help and I may help to solve some of the issues. It has serious parking circulation and awkward tenant mixes. The only thing positive about this mall is the wealthy demographic.
 
bk,



You are absolutely right - back before Paseo Nuevo and now (GOD FORBID) Costco, La Cumbre was IT, so they could get away with that. The layout, and shared parking lot with a supermarket is very, very strange. CDM is right on with his comparison to early Fashion Island architecture.



Perhaps this "renovation" will partition off the market and help attract tenants - it has a high percentage of vacancies.
 
The architect who designed the original Robinson at Fashion Island also designed the one in La Cumbre. The major difference between Fashion Island and La Cumbre are the owners. The Irvine Company has long term strategy and master planning while the Family owned La Cumbre butchered and bandaged their additions numerous times over the last 40 years. The aftermath is extremely evident. Hope Ranch really deserves a better mall but the prominent family of Hope Ranch (owner) monopolized the retail market by steering the local politics to their gain. The so called face-lift is a joke. The re-imaging is poorly executed by architects related to the family. They are only doing this because of Paseo Nuevo is a threat. I see cheap, cheap, and cheap in their approach like those cheap foam crown moulding glued to the buildings.



Please please no Caesar Palace approach to a retail center!



[quote author="CM_Dude" date=1209117936]bk,



You are absolutely right - back before Paseo Nuevo and now (GOD FORBID) Costco, La Cumbre was IT, so they could get away with that. The layout, and shared parking lot with a supermarket is very, very strange. CDM is right on with his comparison to early Fashion Island architecture.



Perhaps this "renovation" will partition off the market and help attract tenants - it has a high percentage of vacancies.</blockquote>
 
bk,



I know that when retail centers go with a real heavy architectural style, it can make it tough to attract high end clients, who are worried about their own brand and style being upstaged (or overwhelmed), by the design details. I think if they restyled along the lines of the old Robinson's (clean, somewhat modern lines, with hispanic inspiration), I think that they could have a winner. However, the architectural review board - which has the ultimate power - may like the heavier, classic, Morgan, Neff, GW Smith version.



Personally, I do not see that working for a stand alone mall (what - did aliens just drop a street from Spain here?), and if they did style it that way, why would people shop there instead of Paseo Nuevo downtown?



In terms of the entrances, the way the original street layout and entrances worked, you had to enter towards Robinsons, or Sears, so it flowed towards the anchors.
 
bk,



The original Northbound off-ramp terminated at La Cumbre. Hope ran from State north to the mountains, but didn't run to the freeway.



I have to say, I am not much of a fan of the Fashion Island architecture, but you can't argue with the sales numbers!
 
cm,



You know, that wasn't the fight that I was referring to! That's what kind of place it was, always trouble - but the price was right!
 
i found this on wikipedia -- urban legend about FI.



Urban legends



In the Bloomingdale's Home Store freight elevator, there exists an urban legend where, supposedly, the ghosts of two busboys haunt the corresponding corridors and elevator. While never confirmed, legend tells that in 1987 two busboys working for the mall murdered a hot dog stand employee by throwing him into the elevator shaft and eventually crushing him to death.



The busboys were said to have committed suicide in the same elevator with a semiautomatic pistol. The legend states that if one goes into the freight elevator alone in the early hours of the morning, one can hear the sadistic laughs of the two busboys or, upon descending to the first floor, can hear the bones crunching and horrifying screams of the hot dog stand employee.
 
Skek, is this it ? <a href="http://icghosts.homestead.com/Books.html">Haunted Houses of Orange County by Michael Khouri</a> Scroll down to see the book cover.



If so, there is an order form on the website.
 
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