News Flash! What's REALLY up with Bay View Plaza

Bay View Plaza on Clairemont Drive at the 5

After noticing the fence was gone around the empty shopping center at the foot of Clairemont Dr. I made some phone calls to see what was up. I got nowhere with the developer I'd spoken with before, and the PR person for the developer is no longer working with the company. I finally reached a leasing agent, Bruce Schiff of Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial, that had formerly been working with the developer and he filled me in. 


Unfortunately the news isn't great for those in Clairemont tired of seeing an abandoned looking building at our community's "front door".


It seems the original owner/developer, CW Clark, had City-approved plans for a retail center there. About a year or so ago they even had an anchor tenant signed to a lease, Frazier Farms, a grocery store.  Unfortunately, the developer could not raise the financing necessary to go ahead and redevelop the center.  Clark filed bankruptcy on the project, and a group of Egyptian investors have now purchased the property from the bankruptcy court. 
According to Mr. Schiff, they plan to demolish the existing buildings (not including the Best Western Hotel) and build mostly residential units on the property with perhaps a small amount of retail space.  I asked if there was a contact for the investors that I might get more information from, but Mr. Schiff said they are in Egypt now raising money for the redevelopment.


The part of this story that is good news for Clairemont is that since the new owners will have to get their own plans approved by the City, they will have to get input from the community, via the Clairemont Mesa Planning Group. 


That should be interesting as my perception from the letters and phone calls I receive asking about this center is that the community does not want more housing there, and would prefer a grocery store along the lines of Fresh and Easy or Trader Joe's.  Your thoughts Clairemont?