It was revealed today that Craig Realty Group of Newport Beach was the high bidder in the state's auction of the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa–with a bid that was much lower than the $96 million to $180 million the 150-acre property had been expected to fetch.
The owner of several outlet malls put in best offer of $56.5 million for the land and facilities.
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“We see this as an interesting opportunity to enhance something
that's here,” Steven Craig, president and chief executive of Craig
Realty, told the Los Angeles Times. “I'm happy to
keep the fair here. We like it that way. But we'd like to find a way to
make it financially viable. Maybe a private enterprise approach will
work.”
Maybe not. Because the bids were so much lower than expected, it was unclear at
press time whether state officials will go through with the sale pushed
by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to raise capital, or if planned auctions of other state-owned facilities will now proceed.
According to the Craig Realty Group website,
the firm has more than 500 employees and owns and operates more than
3.5 million square feet of existing real estate development in six
states. Its outlet
centers are in California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Oregon and
Missouri, and it is developing Plaza San Clemente. More are also coming to Utah, New Jersey and Illinois. Craig's Southern California properties include the Cabazon
Outlets near Palm Springs and Citadel Outlets in Commerce. Craig also
manages Lake Elsinore Outlets.
The Daily Pilot cited campaign
finance records that show Craig contributed steadily to the campaigns of Rep. Ken
Calvert (R-Riverside) and in May 2009 contributed $1,000
to former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman's California governor
exploratory committee. He also gave $5,000 to Jerry Brown's
reelection campaign for state Attorney General.
Among
the six other lower bidders for the fairgrounds were: Newport
Beach-based Tel Phil Inc., which operates the weekend Orange County
Marketplace at the fairgrounds and bid $1,000; Newport Beach consulting
firm Forde &
Mollrich, which bid $2 million for the fairgrounds and has the
distinction of having provided public relations support to the failed
effort to place an international airport at the former El Toro Marines
Corps Air Station and now does the same for the Orange County Great
Park Corp. that's developing the same land; and the city of Costa Mesa
and County of Orange, which jointly bid $6.5 million.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.