Pacific City

A handful of Huntington Beach residents told council members Monday that they're fed up of waiting for a new senior center. The proposed facility at Huntington Central Park that was approved in 2006 and planned to be complete in 2009 has yet to break ground after years of lawsuits and the loss of funding. A group of residents aired their complaints about the Rodgers Seniors' Center at 17th Street and Orange Avenue, saying that the facility is falling apart and is doing more harm than good to its patrons.

A developer with local ties will try to make a long-delayed project - which eventually would bring condominiums, businesses and a hotel to downtown Huntington Beach - a reality. DJM Capital Partners announced in a press release last week that it purchased about 11 acres of the vacant 31-acre site designated for the Pacific City project. It will be the fourth developer to become involved in the project in the last eight years. Pacific City seeks to bring 516 residential units, shops, restaurants and an eight-story hotel to the site downtown on Pacific Coast Highway between First and Huntington streets.

Pacific City, LEED, Little League, Angela Rocco DeCarlo, Paul Cross, Makar Development Now that the dormant Pacific City project on Pacific Coast Highway is showing signs of life, it is all but certain that a prior $20-million promise of Pacific City for funding of a new senior center will not come to fruition. It should not be forgotten that Makar, the former owner of Pacific City, expended a considerable amount on non-LEED-certified design and engineering studies for the center.

A new developer has taken over Pacific City, the long-delayed project that seeks to bring a hotel, condominiums and businesses to an approximately 30-acre parcel near by downtown Huntington Beach. Crescent Heights, a Florida-based company that has overseen residences, hotels, office space and rental properties nationwide, took the helm of the project about three months ago from San Francisco-based Farallon Capital Management, according to spokesman Steve Afriat. Afriat said Crescent Heights, one of the partners in an entity called 21002 HB, LLC, is running numbers on the project and determining if it wants to make changes to the original proposal.

Huntington Beach's long-anticipated new senior center may finally come to fruition now that a new developer has taken over the Pacific City project. Crescent Heights, a Florida-based company that replaced Pacific City's previous developer this summer, is on board to pay about $22 million for the construction of a senior facility in Huntington Central Park, city and company officials said. The City Council approved Pacific City, which would feature a hotel, condominiums and businesses on a 30-acre parcel, in 2004.

For years, it was the most famous not-quite-existent sum of money in Huntington Beach: the $22 million proposed to help build the new senior center in Huntington Central Park. Now, that sum has been considerably downsized - and possibly the senior center along with it, according to city officials. City Manager Fred Wilson said the planned Pacific City project, which was expected to provide the $22 million through an agreement worked out under its original developer, is now slated to pay about $7 million in park fees.

I will never forget, several years ago, when a friend directed me down to the beach adjacent to about Ninth Street to discover a vital piece of Huntington Beach history. There, embedded in the ground, are remnants of the old train tracks that supported the Pacific Electric Red Cars that started running here more than 100 years ago. My son Charles, a USC sophomore who is working on his first history book (which comes out later this year) had an idea recently based on the Red Car trains.

jerry person The city will celebrate its 90th birthday with a dedication of the SeaCliff murals from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, at the Civic Center. The Huntington Beach Concert Band will provide some musical moments. In honor of Surf City's birthday, we'll take a look back at the early days of our history. We'll begin with the first decade of the 20th century, and the biggest event, the founding of a town that would evolve into Huntington Beach and its incorporation later as a city.

A series of photos in The Independent shows a sad state of disrepair in the existing Huntington Beach Senior Center.  I'm certain that they engender a feeling of sympathy for the plight of seniors who use its services. This may be exactly what the current management of the center intends. If managers show the bad conditions, the hope may be that readers will be swayed to support the building of a new center.  "Oh no!" you may say. "That's a cynical outlook!" But if this is not the case, then the only possible alternative explanation is that the existing facility is being so poorly managed that it is indeed falling apart.  Is it in the best interest of Huntington Beach to allow an expensive new center to be built, helping to remove forever our few remaining green spaces, only to have the same fate befall it?

WHAT HAPPENED: Planning Commissioners denied a conditional use permit for dancing at the Inka Grill at 301 Main St. Commissioner Jan Shomaker was absent. WHAT IT MEANS: The commission denied a proposal to amend the restaurant's existing permit to allow dancing on a 123-square-foot dance floor. This would have gone along with live entertainment commissioner approved in May of 2001, which includes Latin jazz and Peruvian music, flamenco dance demonstrations and live bands, ranging from one to four performers.

A handful of Huntington Beach residents told council members Monday that they're fed up of waiting for a new senior center. The proposed facility at Huntington Central Park that was approved in 2006 and planned to be complete in 2009 has yet to break ground after years of lawsuits and the loss of funding. A group of residents aired their complaints about the Rodgers Seniors' Center at 17th Street and Orange Avenue, saying that the facility is falling apart and is doing more harm than good to its patrons.

A series of photos in The Independent shows a sad state of disrepair in the existing Huntington Beach Senior Center.  I'm certain that they engender a feeling of sympathy for the plight of seniors who use its services. This may be exactly what the current management of the center intends. If managers show the bad conditions, the hope may be that readers will be swayed to support the building of a new center.  "Oh no!" you may say. "That's a cynical outlook!" But if this is not the case, then the only possible alternative explanation is that the existing facility is being so poorly managed that it is indeed falling apart.  Is it in the best interest of Huntington Beach to allow an expensive new center to be built, helping to remove forever our few remaining green spaces, only to have the same fate befall it?

I will never forget, several years ago, when a friend directed me down to the beach adjacent to about Ninth Street to discover a vital piece of Huntington Beach history. There, embedded in the ground, are remnants of the old train tracks that supported the Pacific Electric Red Cars that started running here more than 100 years ago. My son Charles, a USC sophomore who is working on his first history book (which comes out later this year) had an idea recently based on the Red Car trains.

We all give lip service to caring for our elderly. We talk about how much they should be cherished and how much they have to share with us. We also know that talk is cheap. What's expensive are construction costs and legal fees — and that's what's stopping Huntington Beach from taking proper care of our seniors. It only gets worse when you throw in years of court proceedings. The Huntington Beach Senior Center is at Orange and 17th streets. In reporting a recent article, we found that the tiles are falling down, the ceiling leaks when it rains and the toilets don't flush without coaxing.

In one room, they're playing cards. In another, they're learning different painting techniques. Sometimes they just sit around and chat. But whatever these senior Huntington Beach residents are doing at the Rodgers Seniors' Center, one thought looms in most of their minds: when will a new senior center be built? "It's been promised so much in the past and it should have been completed by 2009," said Pat Masino, the kitchen supervisor at Rodgers Seniors' Center. "If it happens, it happens.

A developer with local ties will try to make a long-delayed project - which eventually would bring condominiums, businesses and a hotel to downtown Huntington Beach - a reality. DJM Capital Partners announced in a press release last week that it purchased about 11 acres of the vacant 31-acre site designated for the Pacific City project. It will be the fourth developer to become involved in the project in the last eight years. Pacific City seeks to bring 516 residential units, shops, restaurants and an eight-story hotel to the site downtown on Pacific Coast Highway between First and Huntington streets.

Pacific City, LEED, Little League, Angela Rocco DeCarlo, Paul Cross, Makar Development Now that the dormant Pacific City project on Pacific Coast Highway is showing signs of life, it is all but certain that a prior $20-million promise of Pacific City for funding of a new senior center will not come to fruition. It should not be forgotten that Makar, the former owner of Pacific City, expended a considerable amount on non-LEED-certified design and engineering studies for the center.

For years, it was the most famous not-quite-existent sum of money in Huntington Beach: the $22 million proposed to help build the new senior center in Huntington Central Park. Now, that sum has been considerably downsized - and possibly the senior center along with it, according to city officials. City Manager Fred Wilson said the planned Pacific City project, which was expected to provide the $22 million through an agreement worked out under its original developer, is now slated to pay about $7 million in park fees.

A new mayor. A new Assembly representative. For that matter, a new queen. Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley have plenty of things to anticipate in 2012 —and leadership is only part of the picture. Here are stories to watch for in the coming months: * Pacific sees land ahead For years, the site intended for Pacific City has looked more like a ghost town than a city. But the long-dormant project may finally see progress in 2012 under a new owner. Crescent Heights, a Florida-based company, replaced Pacific City's previous developer last summer.

Huntington Beach's long-anticipated new senior center may finally come to fruition now that a new developer has taken over the Pacific City project. Crescent Heights, a Florida-based company that replaced Pacific City's previous developer this summer, is on board to pay about $22 million for the construction of a senior facility in Huntington Central Park, city and company officials said. The City Council approved Pacific City, which would feature a hotel, condominiums and businesses on a 30-acre parcel, in 2004.