Can CIM Work Magic in Sleepy Downtown Anaheim?

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CIM broke ground earlier this month on a project set to include 500 apartments and condos, as well as 55,000 square feet of shops and eateries.

Much is at stake for the city, as well as residents and business owners. If things go the developer's way, the area bounded by Harbor Boulevard, Lincoln Avenue, Anaheim Boulevard and Broadway could become a draw with residents and visitors shelling out cash at cafes and shops.

"This is the biggest project we have done in the downtown," said Elisa Stipkovich, Anaheim's executive director of redevelopment. "It really will give us the critical mass we will need."

The project marks something of a turn-around in city planning. Anaheim razed dozens of historic buildings in the 1970s and 1980s to the chagrin of some. Now the city is trying to make due on its pledge to redevelop its downtown.

As it is, newer office buildings have lured people there on weekdays. But at night, you can hear the crickets.

CIM is a savvy developer. The company had an out-and-out success with the redevelopment of Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Its redevelopment of Birch Street in Brea also appears to have gone off well.

Of course, no two projects are the same. Santa Monica's redevelopment surely benefited from proximity to the beach. And the Birch Street project includes a movie theater, which draws people at night. There's no theater planned for Anaheim.

Another issue, which has more to do with my personal tastes, is that CIM's projects have tended toward a Disneyesque cartoonishness. Take the Brea project. It is attractive in a benign, commercial way. The architecture is neither intriguing nor original.

Still, I'm sure many people like the new, clean-looking buildings with chain stores and restaurants inside.

But some might like to see a downtown with a real, unique character. In this way, Anaheim's neighbor Fullerton, which has held on to some historic buildings, has an edge.

Fullerton's downtown also has a mix of restaurants and cafes that downtown Anaheim now is lacking.

CIM co-founder Shaul Kuba brushes aside such criticism. He said Fullerton's downtown is anchored around busy Harbor Boulevard, which is a mistake. He also said the housing there is too spread out.

"They really never focused on building massive residential right there," Kuba said.

That is changing, though, with two big apartment projects nearly finished in downtown Fullerton.

Kuba also said that CIM used several different architects on the Anaheim project to avoid a uniform look.

I have to say I was impressed with some of the renderings. In one, a quaint looking building featured lots of long windows and European-style balconies.

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If there were a race to be property management king of Orange County, I'd put my money on John Combs.

He runs Irvine-based RiverRock Real Estate Group, a cost-conscious property management company.

Combs has racked up several contracts to manage 535,640 square feet of space. That brings his total square footage under management to more than 4 million.

Not bad for a guy who started his company five months ago. Combs used to be a top executive at Insignia/ESG Inc. but left amid the buyout by CB Richard Ellis Inc. He headed Insignia's nationwide property management arm from Irvine.

Combs' new buildings include 1515 and 1585 S. Manchester in Anaheim, 248,840 square feet of flex-industrial buildings. And he now manages 428 to 622 W. Katella Ave. in Orange, for a total of five industrial and showroom buildings that add up to 143,800 square feet.

He also has picked up a few buildings in Beverly Hills and Rancho Cucamonga.

RiverRock tries to keep its costs low by contracting out accounting, payroll, legal, human resources and insurance services. The company seeks to offer fees up to 15% less than those of its rivals.

Real Law

Philadelphia-based law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP is vying for real estate-related clients in Orange County.

The firm wants to expand its OC practice from nine lawyers to 30 by the end of the year, according to Matthew Paskerian who works in Morgan's Irvine Spectrum office.

The firm already has a high-profile real estate client here: Rancho Mission Viejo LLC, the developer of Ladera Ranch.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius last year took over the Irvine office of defunct Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, giving the firm a foothold in OC. Last year, Morgan also expanded in other markets on the West Coast and now has 230 lawyers in Irvine, Los Angeles, Palo Alto and San Francisco.

The firm recently hired L. Bruce Fischer to work in Irvine. He has handled real estate financing and acquisitions for more than 20 years.