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Las Americas developer agrees to Tijuana project
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20030424-9999_6m24...
Footbridge from mall hinges on proposal
By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 24, 2003
TIJUANA ? A U.S. developer who is trying to build a pedestrian bridge connecting Tijuana to his San Ysidro shopping mall has agreed to construct a
smaller but similar commercial center on the Mexican side.
The targeted area is a run-down cluster of blocks at the northern end of the popular tourist strip Avenida Revolucion. The auto shops, hotels and
boarded-up buildings that are there now would be converted into space for restaurants, shops and cultural activities.
Sam Marasco's San Diego-based LandGrant Development company agreed to build the commercial center after Tijuana city officials balked at approving his
bridge proposal. Marasco has been pitching the bridge idea since 1997.
Tijuana civic leaders were concerned the bridge would primarily benefit Marasco's San Ysidro mall, The Shops at Las Americas, a public-private
partnership with the city of San Diego on 66 acres adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Taxi drivers and souvenir salespeople, whose livelihoods depend on the people who walk into Mexico at the current pedestrian walkway, also opposed the
bridge.
But after Marasco assured Tijuana city officials that he would develop the Mexican side of the bridge, the council unanimously approved the bridge
project "in concept" in late February.
Marasco must return to the council with more information on the commercial center's proposed boundaries, architectural renderings and economic impact.
He said the center will probably occupy just two or three acres and cost far less than the $260 million Las Americas project, which will eventually
include a transit center, office spaces and conference hall.
"This should be an attraction for tourists and provide a much more agreeable image than what is now presented at the border," said Tijuana Councilman
Jos? Maximo Garc?a. "It should be a place where people feel secure and where they can think about the city that we are."
Mayor Jes?s Gonz?lez said if the commercial center doesn't meet the city's criteria, the council could revoke its approval of the bridge. He said the
project was given the green light at this point "so the project could continue its course."
Marasco needed the council's approval to continue his effort to win final approval for the bridge at Mexico's federal level.
Marasco said his company received the go-ahead last year from a group of Mexican federal agencies. He now needs final approval from the federal agency
that oversees border ports and services, which will initiate a formal bid process.
There aren't any other viable candidates for the bridge, which Marasco estimates will cost about $25 million to build. So it's essentially a vote on
LandGrant.
On the U.S. side, the company is updating its studies on pedestrian flow and environmental impact to present to the State Department's Commission for
Bi-National Bridges and Border Crossings. The commission also expects the company to negotiate a final lease with city and federal agencies to use and
operate the port of entry.
The final step will be to obtain a U.S. presidential permit.
If all goes according to plan, construction of the 500-foot bridge, which Marasco sees as a symbol of unity between the two countries, will begin
later this year or in early 2004. There will be a $1 toll for people entering and leaving, he said.
Marasco had originally hoped that Mexican investors would jump at the opportunity to develop the Tijuana end of the bridge.
When that didn't happen, he entered into discussions with Tijuana city officials through his Mexican sister company, LandGrant de Mexico, which was
formed to handle negotiations south of the border and is headed by Antonio Garc?a.
Marasco offered few details about the commercial center project, saying that the information must be presented first to Tijuana's City Council. The
council has outlined several criteria that he said he will meet.
The commercial area, for example, will have space for cultural activities and duty-free shops.
It won't include businesses that offer table dancing or massages. Pharmacies and bars will also be excluded because they already proliferate along the
tourist section of Avenida Revolucion and in the surrounding downtown area.
Tijuana officials say they expect Marasco's company to compensate owners of the properties affected by his project.
The Tijuana office for the country's once-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party is in the path of the project. A party member said they are in
discussions with the company, but wouldn't provide details.
City officials want the area to highlight a cleaner, more modern image of their community.
Marasco said it will be similar "in look and feel and elegance" to the Las Americas center, which is designed in a classic Spanish architecture style.
"I see it as complementary," he said. "We want to create an environment that attracts a regional improvement that goes beyond one piece of property or
office."
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JER PARTNERS BECOMES SOLE OWNER OF LAS AMERICAS
http://www.jer.com/Companies/PressRel/01162004_LasAmericas.h...
Company Will Move Forward With Planned Expansion Of Project
McLean, Va., January 16, 2004 ? JER Partners announced today that it has purchased the minority interest in Las Americas from San Diego-based
LandGrant Development to become the sole owner of the planned 1.4 million square foot mixed-use development project adjacent to the United
States-Mexico port of entry in San Ysidro, California. The company intends to move forward with the planned expansion of this large-scale project,
which currently features more than 370,000 square feet of brand name, value priced retail, known as The Shops at Las Americas.
?Las Americas is one of the most significant real estate development projects in San Diego,? said Deborah L. Harmon, president and chief investment
officer of JER Partners. ?JER Partners has been involved with the project since 2000 as the majority partner, and we intend to continue to manage and
develop the project to maximize its value.?
Harmon credits LandGrant Development and its president, Sam Marasco, for ?their vision and leadership, which to date has produced a very successful
shopping venue and a foundation for the future successes of Las Americas.?
Las Americas is planned as a $300 million world-class retail, entertainment and cultural destination. Designed as a welcoming, cross-cultural
destination experience, rather than merely a transportation corridor, the project has become a model for border entry development in the 21st Century.
The project is located on 66 acres of previously underutilized real estate in the South San Diego County, less than a thousand yards away from the
world?s busiest border crossing in San Ysidro, California.
?JER Partners has been an excellent partner in the Las Americas project, and the company?s continued leadership will be an immense benefit to Las
Americas,? said C. Samuel Marasco, president of LandGrant Development. ?I feel fortunate to have worked with the strongly committed community leaders
and the public administrators of the City of San Diego and the City of Tijuana in conceiving the project. I can only hope that my participation has
inspired and contributed to more cross border socialization in the future. I look forward to seeing the project and the border area grow and prosper.?
JER Partners has retained San Diego-based Douglas Wilson Companies to assist with property management and development of Las Americas.
Construction of Las Americas is planned in three stages of development. The first phase, The Shops at Las Americas, which opened Nov. 16, 2001,
encompasses 370,000 square feet of open-air retail and restaurant space designed to create an urban village atmosphere. The retail complex features
distinct public plazas designed in Spanish colonial architecture and boasts 75 brand name tenants, including Gap Outlet, Polo Jean Co. Factory Store,
Banana Republic Factory Store, Old Navy Outlet, Nike Factory Store, Liz Claiborne Outlet, Guess Factory Store and Tommy Hilfiger Company Store.
The next phase, planned to open in 2005, will consist of 189,000 square feet of additional retail and restaurant space and a contemplated
25,000-square-foot public library/cultural center. The final phase of the project is projected to include the construction of a bi-national pedestrian
bridge and a port of entry facility, together with a hotel and conference center, an office tower, 60,000 square feet of outdoor entertainment space
for concerts and special events, a multi-modal transit center and 200,000 square feet of retail space, including duty-free shopping.
JER Partners is the investment arm of the J. E. Robert Companies (JER), an international real estate investment and asset management firm, which has
invested in and/or managed over 30,000 real estate assets with an aggregate book value in excess of $40 billion. JER Partners manages several global
private investment funds that have in excess of $1.6 billion of committed capital. These funds invest in real estate portfolios, commercial mortgage
backed securities and loans, individual assets, and operating companies in North America and Western Europe. Additional information on the J. E.
Robert Companies can be obtained by visiting its website at www.jer.com.
Since its founding in 1989, the Douglas Wilson Companies and its affiliated entities have provided institutional clients with diversified asset
management as well as other real estate services throughout the Western United States. To date, the Company has managed real estate and corporate
assets valued at more than $4 billion, including major retail properties in San Diego, throughout California and other western states.
The Company?s Development division provides development services for its own commercial and residential projects as well as for properties owned by
other parties. Wilson headed the firm that built the 1.1-million-square-foot Symphony Towers complex in downtown San Diego in the mid-80s, which
remains the largest privately financed mixed use project in the city?s downtown area. More recently, his firm developed the $60 million Parkloft
condominium project as the first for-sale housing development in the new East Village redevelopment neighborhood. This spring, his firm will break
ground on a $110 million, 32-story condominium tower, also located in downtown San Diego?s East Village.
J.E. Robert Companies and the Douglas Wilson Companies previously collaborated on the Mission Center Corporate Center project in Mission Valley,
California.
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