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Lincoln Property Co. in Dallas has been hired to help the city decide what do with 43-acre downtown site. Both sides are prepared to spend up to a year working out a development plan and another year putting it in place. The move, years in the making, is being called by city officials the first major step reviving in San Bernardino’s downtown.
The future of the beleaguered Carousel Mall property in downtown San Bernardino has been placed in the hands of a Dallas-based real estate developer.
Lincoln Property Co. a 57-year-old firm with worldwide experience developing large mixed-use commercial and office projects, has been put in charge of reviving the 43-acre property next to Interstate 215.
The city council, which has had sharp disagreements regarding what to with the abandoned shopping mall, voted 7-0 earlier this month to make Lincoln Property the project’s exclusive developer.
Renaissance Downtowns USA and ICO Real Estate Group, the two firms selected by the council last year to bring a mixed-use project to the site, are now “silent partners” with Lincoln Property, said Councilman Theodore Sanchez.
Sanchez represents San Bernardino’s first ward, in which Carousel Mall is located.
San Bernardino has been trying for years to fix the Carousel Mall, which opened as Central City Mall in 1972 and closed five years ago. When the mall could not be revived, the city began trying to find ways to replace it.
Hiring Lincoln Property is the most significant step the city has taken in that process, Sanchez said.
“This is a big [action] on the city’s part, because it says we’re making a strong move toward getting something done,” said Sanchez, one of three council members – along with Fred Shorett and Kimberly Calvin – who make up an ad hoc committee that is overseeing the city’s efforts to make the property the centerpiece of its downtown restoration.
“I’m more confident now than I’ve ever been that we’re gong to get something good done.”
Councilman Juan Figueroa agreed, calling Lincoln Property the ideal developer to undertake such a large project.
“They have a portfolio, and a track record, that tells me they can handle this,” Figueroa said.
Stephen Lindgren, senior vice president with Lincoln Property and the company’s representative on the Carousel Mall project, declined to be interviewed for this report.
Lincoln Property is full-service international real estate firm that employs about 8,500 people worldwide, with 45 offices in the United States and Europe, according to the company’s website.
Since its founding in 1965, Lincoln Property has developed more than 138 million square feet of retail, commercial and office projects, and it currently manages and/or leases more than 433 million square feet of commercial space It has also developed more than 209,000 multifamily units and now manages more than 165,000 multifamily units worldwide, the website states.
San Bernardino officials and Lincoln Property will spend the next year negotiating a disposition and development agreement in which both parties will decide what should be done with the mall site and how the project will be financed.
Both sides have agreed to spend no more than one year completing that plan, and whatever redevelopment plan is approved should be started within two years.
“There are a lot of details to work out but they’re one of the biggest developers in the country, and I have to believe they’re capable of making this work,” Sanchez said. “They can do it quickly, and they’ll probably do it better than anyone else would.
“I don’t expect them to tell us that the project is too big, or that they will need more money to get it done.”
Several elements have already been agreed upon. San Bernardino will sell the land to Lincoln Property, for a price yet to be determined, and the city will be in charge of demolition.
How the demolition will be paid for hasn’t been determined. San Bernardino could pay for the entire project, or it could share the cost with Lincoln Property, but City Manager Rob Field has said the city intends to recover its part of the demolition cost from the property sale.
Ultimately, the Carousel Mall site will be home to a mixed-use commercial and residential project, with residential being a crucial component, Sanchez said.
“Every study we’ve seen says that to bring back a downtown you have to get people living there, people have to be moving around there all of the time,” Sanchez said. “We need to get people living in that part of the city.”
There are three things San Bernardino has to get done done in the next 10 years if it’s going to thrive, staring with fixing its downtown, Sanchez said.
“Downtown has to be revived, and fixing the Carousel Mall property is a big part of that,” Sanches said. “The other two are continuing to build up our tax base and improving public safety. If we don’t do those things we will shrivel up and die. Other cities will devour us.”
