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Big Expansion Is Proposed for The BlockShopping: Owners of Orange entertainment center plan toincrease size about 40% , adding upscale stores and live theater.

July 02, 1999 | ALLISON COHEN and LESLIE EARNEST | SPECIALTO THE TIMES

With the competition increasing between Orange County's shopping and entertainment centers, theBlock at Orange plans to grow by about 40%, adding more upscale stores and a live theater complex.

The center's owner, Virginia-based Mills Corp., submitted plans to the city of Orange on Wednesday fora proposed 250,000- to 300,000-square-foot expansion on the west side of the center. It would add twolevels of shops, entertainment and restaurants on what is now a parking lot.

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The expansion of what is already the largest entertainment complex ever built in Orange County stemsfrom its successful opening last November, said Giancarlo Filartiga, Mills' development director. Thegoal is to reach "a different kind of audience" by installing higher-end stores, he said.

He declined to elaborate on the plans or reveal possible tenants. Mills hopes to have city approval by theend of the year, and have the new addition open by Thanksgiving of 2000, city planner Chris Carnessaid.

So far, the Block has been a youth-oriented complex, with the popular Van's Skate Park as its most high-profile tenant. The center also has a Ron Jon Surf Shop, two game centers, a 30-screen theater and avariety of stores and restaurants.

Not everyone is persuaded that the center will attract big spenders, even if it adds more upscale stores.

"I don't think that would work," said Linda Crowley, owner of Urban Street Advisors, an Irvine retailconsultant. "The demographics are not high-end."

The center would have stiff competition from upscale stores at nearby malls, such as MainPlace/SantaAna, South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa and the Brea Mall, she said.

Live entertainment also is shaping up as a hotly competitive niche.

In April, the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana and Irvine Improv comedy club announced thatthey will move to the Irvine Spectrum Center off the San Diego and Santa Ana freeways in South County.

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Disneyland's expansion and the planned Pointe Anaheim project across the street from the big Anaheimtheme park also plan to have live theater.

"We're reaching a point of over-saturation," said Zev Buffman, chief executive of Musiclive LLC, whichplans to operate three live theaters at Pointe Anaheim.

The parking spaces consumed by the Block's addition would be replaced with either one large parkingstructure on the west side of the center, or two smaller structures, one on the east and the other on thewest.

An environmental impact report still must still be submitted for city review, Carnes said.

The 811,000-square-foot center recently reported an average of 245,000 weekly visitors, and expectsto draw more than 13 million visitors this year.

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