Carlsbad may finally be getting a Nordstrom department store.
Caruso Affiliated confirmed Wednesday that the Seattle-based fashion retailer will be the anchor tenant of the open-air retail, dining and entertainment complex the company is proposing to build on the southern shores of Agua Hedionda Lagoon just east of Interstate 5 and north of Cannon Road – the current home of Carlsbad´s strawberry fields.
“During our three years of listening to Carlsbad residents, we have learned that Nordstrom was the topmost request from the community when it came to retail,” Caruso Affiliated CEO Rick Caruso said in a statement. “Our plans, envisioned as a gathering place for friends and family, truly reflect the desires and wishes expressed by the community. We are thrilled that Nordstrom has committed to be our fashion anchor, and are confident its presence will set the tone for the gathering place we are seeking to create in Carlsbad.”
Nordstrom is planned as a two-level, full-line store, totaling approximately 123,000 square feet.
“We´re grateful for the more than 30 years of support we´ve received from our customers in San Diego County and we´re thrilled at the opportunity to better serve many of those customers with a store closer to their home,” said Jamie Nordstrom, president of stores for Nordstrom Inc. “We have a long-standing relationship with Caruso Affiliated and look forward to working closely with Caruso´s team and the Carlsbad community to offer our customers a great shopping experience.”
It will be the largest building in the low-profile center, which will occupy 26 of the 48 acres earmarked for commercial use under Proposition D, passed by Carlsbad voters in 2006.
The rest of the acreage will be added to 155 acres of land designated as open space by the same voter-approved measure. Caruso has an agreement to buy 203 acres of land on the southern shore of Agua Hedionda Lagoon from San Diego Gas & Electric, pending approval of his proposed project. He plans on turning over most of the land – currently inaccessible to the public – to a conservancy, to keep it in its natural state for perpetuity.
Caruso is proposing to build the 26-acre center just east of the freeway. The open-air promenade will have a market, a movie theater and a “curated collection of high-quality retailers,” according to a news release. The center also will feature an assortment of restaurants, from casual to fine dining, that take advantage of the lagoon and open space views.
The complex will include public gathering spaces and mature landscaping and trees, designed to blend in with the area.
Of the 203 acres Caruso plans on buying, 85 percent will be free of commercial development – which is why the proposal is being called the “85/15 Plan.”
“Private revenue from retail plans will fund 176 acres of new access to open space, preservation of its beloved strawberry farming and additional ways to enjoy Carlsbad,” Caruso said.
A petition drive is currently underway to streamline the approval process. Once the required signatures have been collected and presented to the Carlsbad City Council, council members can either approve the plan or place it on the ballot. Construction could start within six months of final approval, with the center opening as early as 2018.
In the meantime, preparation is under way of a comprehensive report authorized May 19 by the Carlsbad City Council to analyze the proposed project that would require a specific plan.
“The report will provide information to help the City Council, city staff and the public evaluate the initiative,” according to a city news release.
The proposal has garnered support from key Carlsbad groups. It has been endorsed by the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation, the San Diego Farm Bureau, and by a coalition of Carlsbad residents, including past Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce presidents and former Carlsbad planning commissioners.
The Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation supports the project because Caruso will build trails and picnic sites as well as new filtration systems to protect the lagoon and safeguard the watershed.
The San Diego Farm Bureau supports the project because it will allow agricultural use to continue on more than 50 acres of land. Jimmy Ukegawa´s strawberry fields will be moved eastward and expanded, with more crops and a farm-to-table restaurant.
Prop. D called for agricultural use to continue on the land “as long as feasible,” according to an impartial analysis by the League of Women Voters, and observers have long feared that when the economics no longer make sense, Carlsbad´s famed “strawberry fields” would cease to exist. Under Caruso´s plan, strawberry farming is both sustainable and economically viable, Ukegawa said.