New ownership could improve aging shopping center

Andrew Glazer

MESA DEL MAR -- One of the soon-to-be owners of a dilapidated strip mall

believes new management, along with ideas from area residents, will make

the shopping center shine.

Jeff Pratt, a managing member of El Camino Partners Inc. -- the

prospective buyer of the shopping center at El Camino and Mendoza drives

-- said Monday the deal is expected to close this week.

“It can be improved a lot but needs a little TLC,” he said.

Pratt added that the owners had neglected the shopping center, which

includes: a pub, liquor store, small supermarket, coin-operated laundry,

gas station and bakery.

The roof is crumbling and warped. And the parking lot pavement is stained

with oil.

Michael Dilsinian and other homeowners near the Mesa Village shopping

center said the the primarily residential area is no place for retail,

especially a liquor store and pub. Dilsinian said people leaving Outers

Again Pub late at night are noisy and often urinate on nearby lawns.

“That shopping center is right in the middle of our community,” said

Dilsinian, co-founder of the El Camino Redevelopment Committee, a

neighborhood improvement group. “It just doesn’t serve the homeowners

here.”

Pratt said the property has declined because it is owned by so many

different entities -- 36, according to a representative from Financial

Investment Real Estate Brokerage, the firm managing the center.

Financial Investment officials declined further comment.

Pratt said it’s nearly impossible to pull so many owners together to

substantially improve the center. And, he said, most of the center owners

live far away and probably don’t even know what kind of shape it’s in.

Pratt said representatives of his company interviewed neighbors who said

they want a shopping center to remain in the neighborhood.

“If they fix it up and get the place up, it would be great,” said Lance

Hailstone, president of Mesa Del Mar Homeowners Assn., who noted he was

not speaking on behalf of the association.

Hailstone added, however, that the neighborhood could do without the

liquor store and bar.

Pratt said it’s too early to say how Mesa Village will change, but his

company will continue gathering comments from nearby residents.

He also promised to check on the shopping center at least once a week

after the deal is sealed.

“The last thing we want to be is a bad neighbor,” Pratt said. “We really

want to work with the neighbors.”