Fox Fullerton Theater, closed since 1987, is a potential National Register site and local treasure in serious danger of vanishing from Fullerton forever.

High Rise Project in Downtown Fullerton?

May, 2005 A few weeks ago the City Council discussed changes to the Amerige Court project in the downtown. As originally approved, the concept was to build 4 to 5 story buildings on both sides of Amerige Ave. between Malden and Harbor, with commercial uses on the ground floor and condos above. Parking was to be located behind, below and within the building areas. The design was meant to reflect the Harbor Blvd. appearance with the large buildings broken up so as to resemble buildings built at different times and compatible with the 1920’s and 30’s era of the downtown. Open spaces and plazas provided pedestrian scale places of interest for sitting, eating or walking though. The scale of the development was to be compatible with the downtown, which was primarily 2-story but with scattered 3- to 5-story buildings. From the surrounding streets the 4 to 5 story buildings would barely be seen until entering the Amerige area.

The discussion at the City Council meeting was to be for transfer of the City parking lots to the Redevelopment Agency and for approval of the development agreement between the City and the developer. Most of the meeting, however, was devoted to discussing and justifying changing the original concept from buildings the size of the Wilshire Promenade to buildings 8 stories high with a separate 6-story parking structure. No longer were the parking and buildings to be integrated and gone were the pedestrian scale open spaces.

Construction of 8-story towers was justified with claims that the Chapman Building is equivalent to that height, that it is too expensive to build subterranean parking, and that there would be more open space. The Chapman Building may be that high to the top of its equipment screen but it is not an 8 story building. Every parking structure in the downtown has at least a portion below grade, with the Wilshire Promenade, City Pointe, and Pinnacle having full below grade levels. The open spaces surrounding tower developments are seldom pedestrian scale, have no interest except from an airplane, and are not functional as part of a mixed use development. Go to any of the surrounding towns and see what their tower developments really look like up close.

Eight-story construction is much more expensive that 4- to 5-story projects. The savings could be used for subterranean parking. The scale of an eight story tower development is out of character with the downtown core. How do you make a tower architecturally compatible with anything except another tower? The developer is not a tower developer. He was chosen because of his proposal to build a compatible development for Fullerton like he has done in other communities. Why would the City want to make a good developer build a bad project?

The decision is not yet final. The public needs to keep track of this one and be at the various public meetings that will occur as the project goes through the review process. A bad precedent is being established here. Eight-story towers should not be built in the center of our downtown but on the perimeter, as was expressed by the vast majority of the Fullerton citizens who spent their time attending the public workshops last year.

The Ink is Barely Dry

The recent discussion at the City Council meeting regarding construction of two 8-story towers in the downtown is in blatant disregard of the hours of meetings that the public attended with the City's facilitator through the summer months last year. It was clearly stated at those meetings that the downtown core would not be a location for tower structures because they cannot be made compatible with the historic and architectural flavor of the area. The ink is barely dry on the report of those meetings and the City is already prepared to ignore it and the people who devoted their time to expressing their vision for the downtown. The report clearly shows that taller buildings would be east and west on Commonwealth, south on Harbor from the tracks, and in the Transportation Center .

Justifying 8 stories downtown because the Chapman Building is 80 feet tall to the top of its equipment screen misses the point of what is compatible and in scale with existing development. Perhaps if the towers were made of cast iron, granite, and terra cotta with the exquisite cornice details like the Chapman Building , there would be something to discuss, but we all know that developers do not use those quality materials and methods today.

The City needs to pay attention to its past, the people who treasure that past, and the fact that the historic downtown is what is attracting business and people today. It is the “Real Deal” that no one else has. How could you even think of trying to make our downtown look like everyone else's?

Historic Building Survey
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