What is known about Project Elevate developer CenterCal Acquisitions? What ChatGPT found about Elk Grove's newest partner
Controversies on CenterCal Acquisitions (El Segundo, CA)
CenterCal
Acquisitions (also
known as CenterCal Properties) is a retail and mixed-use real estate developer
based in El Segundo, California therealdeal.com. While it has developed successful shopping
centers across the Western U.S., it has also been involved in several
controversies, legal disputes, and community backlashes. Below is a summary of
key unfavorable information, organized by category, with dates, locations, and
sources.
Redondo
Beach Waterfront Redevelopment Dispute (2015–2023)
One of
CenterCal’s most high-profile controversies unfolded in Redondo Beach, CA. In
2015 the company proposed a 35-acre, $400 million project to
overhaul Redondo Beach’s aging harbor waterfront with 520,000 sq. ft. of new
shops, a market hall, a cinema, a hotel and more therealdeal.com. The plan initially received City Council
approval, but it quickly became a lightning rod for community
opposition. Critics derided it as a “mall by the sea,” voicing
concerns that it would worsen traffic congestion and alter the character of the
seaside community therealdeal.com. The development battle grew unusually
intense: opponents fiercely mobilized, and Mayor Bill Brand rose
to office in 2016 on a slow-growth platform centered on stopping CenterCal’s
project therealdeal.com. In March 2017, Redondo Beach voters
passed Measure C, a ballot initiative to block large waterfront
development, effectively torpedoing CenterCal’s plan therealdeal.com. Fred Bruning, CenterCal’s CEO, later
recounted that the backlash was so vicious that his car tires were
slashed and drones hovered over his home during the conflict therealdeal.com. (Some opposition rhetoric even took on a
racist tone, with fears the project would bring in “those people” from
outside communities therealdeal.com.) Bruning called it “the saddest moment of
my career” therealdeal.com.
After the project was blocked, CenterCal sued the City of Redondo Beach, alleging breach of contract. The developer argued the city had initially agreed to the public-private partnership and then unlawfully derailed it. Between 2017 and 2019, CenterCal’s affiliate (Redondo Beach Waterfront, LLC) filed multiple lawsuits (reportedly five in total) seeking roughly $15–20 million in damages easyreadernews.com easyreadernews.com. This led to protracted litigation. Redondo Beach officials maintained that halting the oversized development was in the public interest, while CenterCal sought compensation for its sunk costs. Finally, in March 2023, the saga concluded with a settlement: the Redondo Beach City Council voted to pay $2 million to CenterCal to resolve all outstanding lawsuits easyreadernews.com. This was just a fraction of what the developer had demanded, and city leaders characterized the outcome as a win for the community’s vision. “The settlement is a big deal,” Mayor Brand said, expressing relief that the city could move forward “free of the cloud of uncertainty” from the litigation therealdeal.comtherealdeal.com. The settlement also required CenterCal to formally relinquish any development rights on the waterfront, clearing the path for Redondo Beach to pursue a different, scaled-down revitalization plan therealdeal.com.
Environmental
and Regulatory Challenges
During the
Redondo Beach dispute, CenterCal’s project ran into regulatory
roadblocks as well. In May 2018, Los Angeles County Superior
Court Judge James Chalfant ruled that the project’s Environmental
Impact Report (EIR) violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) on
several grounds pvsbsierraclub.org. The court found the EIR “failed
to address” critical issues, including potential water-quality and public
health impacts from CenterCal’s plan to replace a protected saltwater lagoon
with an open beach in polluted harbor waters, as well as the project’s
interference with coastal views and the unsafe relocation of a boat launch ramp pvsbsierraclub.org. Judge Chalfant ordered the City
to decertify the EIR, rescind all project approvals, and cease any
further action on the development until the environmental deficiencies
were remedied pvsbsierraclub.org. The California Coastal
Commission likewise put the brakes on the proposal – in 2018 it
notified the City it would not even consider permitting the project until the
CEQA issues were resolved pvsbsierraclub.org. In effect, the courts and Coastal
Commission concurred with community groups (like Building a Better
Redondo and the local Sierra Club) that the waterfront mall plan
was incompatible with environmental and coastal protection laws pvsbsierraclub.org pvsbsierraclub.org.
This legal victory for project opponents, combined with the Measure C voter
mandate, meant CenterCal’s Redondo development was dead in the water well
before the 2023 settlement formalized its end.
SLAPP
Lawsuit Against Local Activists (2017–2021)
Another
unfavorable episode for CenterCal was its role in a controversial lawsuit
against Redondo Beach slow-growth advocates – a case widely viewed as a
retaliatory SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public
Participation). In June 2017, shortly after Measure C halted
the waterfront project, two Redondo residents, Arnette Travis and Chris
Voisey, filed a lawsuit accusing Mayor Bill Brand, Councilmember Nils
Nehrenheim, and the Rescue Our Waterfront (ROW) citizens’
group of violating campaign finance laws easyreadernews.com easyreadernews.com. The suit claimed Brand and Nehrenheim
had “controlled” the ROW political action committee during the Measure C
referendum, allegedly an improper coordination of a candidate with a ballot
committee easyreadernews.com. Notably, Travis and Voisey were
outspoken supporters of CenterCal’s projecteasyreadernews.com, and their attorney had previously been
paid by CenterCal’s campaign to fight Measure Ceasyreadernews.com. ROW leaders immediately denounced the
case as “yet another CenterCal attempt to intimidate residents and ram
through their plan,” pointing out that the developer appeared to
be using surrogates to harass its opponents in court easyreadernews.com.
Councilman Nehrenheim bluntly called it “a personal lawsuit, meant to
be personal harm as retribution by CenterCal”easyreadernews.com.
The courts
ultimately sided with the activists. In 2018, Los Angeles Superior
Court Judge Malcolm Mackey dismissed the Travis/Voisey suit and blasted
it as frivolous. He found the claims meritless and the tactics abusive,
reportedly labeling the lawsuit a “sham” orchestrated by CenterCal
using the two residents as “shills.”thelog.com thelog.com Evidence had revealed that despite Travis
and Voisey’s initial denials, CenterCal’s development entity was
secretly funding their lawsuit – their lawyer was forced to admit in
court that CenterCal’s Redondo Beach Waterfront LLC was paying his feesthelog.com thelog.com. Judge Mackey deemed this an egregious attempt
to punish community members for political activity. In a scathing ruling, he
ordered the plaintiffs (and by extension CenterCal) to pay
approximately $900,000 in attorneys’ fees to cover the defendants’
legal coststhelog.com thelog.com. This fee award was intended to sanction the
misuse of the courts to suppress public participation. The developer’s allies
appealed the decision, but the California Court of Appeal in 2021
upheld the attorney-fee judgment, confirming that Brand, Nehrenheim, and
the ROW activists were “unquestionably the prevailing party.”law.justia.com CenterCal’s legal team continued to
contest payments for years – as of 2024, the company’s principals were still
fighting in court to avoid reimbursing the activists’ full legal expenses rescueourwaterfront.org. Nonetheless, the anti-SLAPP
victory stands as a major legal defeat for CenterCal, casting the
company in a highly negative light for its attempt to stifle local
opposition through litigation.
“Litigious
and Combative” Reputation
CenterCal’s
aggressive actions in Redondo Beach – suing the city, suing citizens,
and even threatening ancillary events – have contributed to a
reputation for combative tactics. The hostility between CenterCal and
Redondo Beach became so extreme that it spilled into public view in
unusual ways. For instance, in 2018 during a California Coastal Commission
hearing, CenterCal representatives served legal papers on residents in
the audience who had appealed the project’s permits thelog.com. In 2019, the developer even threatened
to sue over the “BeachLife” music festival, a popular three-day event on
the same waterfront it once sought to control thelog.com. (CenterCal’s claim was presumably that the
festival’s use of the harbor area or parking interfered with its lease rights,
an issue it raised after its project was stalled.) These maneuvers were seen
locally as spiteful and obstructive. As Redondo Harbor Commissioner Jim
Light – a leader of the opposition – commented, “CenterCal is
famous for ignoring the community… In the end, despite thousands of comments
from the public, CenterCal pressed ahead with its plan… All this shows that
CenterCal is willing to violate the law with its projects and when it does not
get its way they are willing to sue the bejesus out of their opponents.
CenterCal is bad news for any community.”thelog.com thelog.com Such sentiments, published in the local
press, illustrate how the company’s hardball approach
engendered significant community backlash in the South Bay.
CenterCal
also drew negative media coverage during these disputes. A
notable example was a Los Angeles Times investigation in November 2022 that
exposed offensive private emails by Mayor Brand and his allies – emails
which CenterCal obtained through litigation discovery and then
publicized to discredit the slow-growth camp latimes.comlatimes.com. The emails (in which Brand made crude remarks
and jokes in poor taste) bolstered CenterCal’s narrative that the
anti-development movement was tainted by nastiness or bias latimes.com. Brand accused CenterCal of “cherry picking”
and leaking his emails “to vilify him.”latimes.comlatimes.com While the LA Times piece cast the city’s
leadership in a harsh light, it also underscored the bitter feud between
CenterCal and Redondo Beach’s officials, revealing the lengths to which the
developer would go in a public relations battle. This kind of adversarial
relationship with local government is certainly an unfavorable mark on
CenterCal’s record.
Other
Community Controversies
Outside of
Redondo Beach, CenterCal’s projects have occasionally met resistance or
troubles, though none as explosive. In Meridian, Idaho, for
example, CenterCal partnered on a large 200-acre mixed-use development (near
Ten Mile Road) that was approved in 2024 amid some community concerns. Local
residents and even planning commissioners raised worries about traffic
congestion and school crowding, noting the project had been advanced
without a new traffic study idahostatesman.com. Despite these objections, the Meridian
City Council greenlit the development, reflecting a recurring theme:
CenterCal’s ambitious retail/residential centers often spark questions
about infrastructure and growth impacts. Similarly, in other cities (e.g.
in California’s Central Valley or the Pacific Northwest), big retail projects
have at times drawn critique for their scale or potential to disrupt local
environments – though such cases have not garnered major media coverage like
Redondo Beach did.
CenterCal’s
tenant relations have also seen tension during challenging times. For instance,
during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, CenterCal had to issue a default notice
and pursue eviction against Regal Cinemas at Bridgeport Village
(Tigard, OR) when the theater chain failed to pay rent during
shutdowns tualatinlife.com. CenterCal’s CEO noted they tried to
negotiate with Regal but ultimately had to take legal steps tualatinlife.com. While this reflects the difficult retail
climate rather than misconduct, it did generate some negative press in the
Portland area. Overall, however, no major financial scandals or
insolvency issues have been reported regarding CenterCal itself. As of
2024, the company was still expanding – for example, it was selected to develop
a new downtown project in Rohnert Park, CA (a $400 million project approved in
August 2024) pressdemocrat.com – and it has touted high occupancy
rates at its properties prnewswire.com. This suggests CenterCal remains financially
stable. Labor practices at CenterCal have also not been the
subject of any publicized disputes; our research turned up no known
lawsuits or official complaints by employees regarding labor or
workplace issues. In contrast to its high-profile battles with cities and
community groups, the company appears to avoid controversy in its internal
operations.
Summary
of Key Incidents
- Redondo Waterfront Lawsuits
(2017–2023): CenterCal’s
planned redevelopment in Redondo Beach was halted by a voter initiative
and found to violate environmental laws. The company sued the city for
breach of contract, seeking up to $20 million. The dispute settled in 2023
with the city paying $2 million easyreadernews.com therealdeal.com.
- Community Backlash: The Redondo project drew
fierce opposition (“a mall by the sea”), over concerns of traffic
and overdevelopment therealdeal.com. Opponents passed Measure C (2017) to
block it, and activists faced off against CenterCal in public hearings and
the press.
- Anti-SLAPP Ruling (2018): A lawsuit funded by
CenterCal against project opponents was dismissed as a sham. A
judge called the case frivolous and ordered CenterCal’s side to pay
~$900,000 in attorneys’ fees to the defendants thelog.comthelog.com. An appellate court upheld this outcome in
2021 law.justia.com.
- Aggressive Legal Tactics: CenterCal gained a
reputation for litigiousness – from filing five lawsuits against Redondo
Beach easyreadernews.com to threatening new suits (even
against events like a local beach festival) when it didn’t get its way thelog.com. Redondo’s harbor commissioner accused
CenterCal of “willing to violate the law… and sue the bejesus” out
of opponents thelog.com.
- Negative Media Coverage: The feud with Redondo
Beach led to unfavorable press for CenterCal. In 2022, the L.A.
Times reported that CenterCal leaked private emails to smear the
slow-growth mayor, highlighting the nasty tactics in this development
fight latimes.comlatimes.com.
- Other Projects: In other communities,
CenterCal projects have prompted some concern (e.g. traffic impacts in
Meridian, ID) idahostatesman.com, but there have been no comparably
prominent lawsuits or scandals reported outside California.
- Financial/Labor Issues: No significant
financial instability of the company has been reported in
credible sources, and no known labor or employee misconduct issues have
surfaced publicly.
Sources: Official court records, news
outlets, and watchdog groups were used to compile the above information. Key
references include local newspapers (Easy Reader News easyreadernews.com easyreadernews.com), regional real estate press therealdeal.com, The Los Angeles Timeslatimes.comlatimes.com, The Log boating news thelog.com, Sierra Club reports pvsbsierraclub.org, and California appellate court
decisions law.justia.com. These sources document the legal disputes,
community opposition, and outcomes in detail, underscoring the unfavorable
aspects of CenterCal’s track record in certain developments. All
evidence of lawsuits, settlements, and controversies has been drawn from
reputable publications or official records, as cited above.
#8647 #NoKings #ProDemocracy
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