Escondido planners: Lowe's yes, condos no

By: QUINN EASTMAN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 15, 2006 10:44 PM PST ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- We like the plan to bring in a Lowe's home improvement store, but not the proposal to build 164 condominiums next to it, a majority of Planning Commission members have told developers of a former Kmart site on Mission Avenue.

At its Tuesday night meeting, the commission rejected a proposal by property owner Sunset Centers to replace several businesses and the shuttered Kmart building in western Escondido with a 170,000-square-foot Lowe's and condominiums.

Commissioners said that while the City Council has been encouraging condo construction in downtown Escondido as a way to revitalize the area, such a strategy may be inappropriate for the less pedestrian-friendly Kmart site in a commercial area west of downtown.

Commission Chairman Jeffrey Weber said the 18-acre site should be ideal for a large store because of its highly visible location southeast of the Interstate 15-Highway 78 interchange. The Kmart closed in 2003.

However, every time city officials approve building homes as part of mixed-use projects on commercially zoned land, "we're eating away at the industrial and commercial core of the city," he said.

Commissioner Guy Winton said he thought a "mixed-use" designation should have residential and commercial within the same building, not only nearby.

The vote was 5-2 against the proposed project, with Commissioners Jack Campbell and Barry Newman casting dissenting votes in favor of the plan. The proposed project next goes to the City Council, which may ignore the commission's recommendation.

Steve Fitch, an attorney representing Sunset Centers, said Wednesday his client was disappointed by the commission's decision. Including residential units in the development is necessary to make the project financially worthwhile, especially because of the street improvements required to accommodate the Lowe's, he said.

Real estate expert Russ Valone said Wednesday that residential use can bring in more profit for a developer than commercial use.

"Generally speaking, commercial doesn't command the same value that residential land does," said Valone, president of MarketPoint Realty Advisors in San Diego.

However, the city has been holding out for a large retail operation such as Lowe's that could bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly in sales tax revenue.

City officials last year rejected a proposal by the previous owner, San Diego-based American National Investments, to build 600 homes and 100,000 square feet of retail space on the old Kmart site.

In addition to the empty Kmart store, the property is home to a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, a liquor store, a dry cleaner and a Putt Putt entertainment center. All of those businesses would be razed to make way for the new project.

City plans call for adding an additional traffic signal on Mission between Rock Springs Road and Quince Street, a cul-de-sac entrance to the proposed megastore and condos, and redesigning several of the surrounding streets.

Representatives of Sunset Centers, a company controlled by San Diego-based Kahn Capital Management, are talking to the owners of El Mexicano taco shop and Autopia used car lot on Mission about buying at least some of their land to make room for the cul-de-sac, Fitch said.

Contact staff writer Quinn Eastman at (760) 740-5412 or qeastman@nctimes.com.