New owners buy Escondido mall for $57M, look to revamp

By Samantha Nelson

ESCONDIDO

— Revitalization efforts are underway as new owners plan to return the mall known as North County Fair to its former glory.

Steerpoint Capital and Bridge Group Investments purchased the mall from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield in February for $57 million.

The mall opened in the mid-1980s during a boom period for shopping malls. Bo Okoroji, managing partner and founder of Steerpoint Capital, said the mall is well-liked and well-visited despite the recent decline in mall shoppers across the country and has created many fond memories for locals over the years.

According to Okoroji, who previously served as head of U.S. investments for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the mall welcomes 6 million visitors annually. During the pandemic, the mall averaged between 3 million and 4 million visitors; pre-pandemic, the mall saw an average of 8 million visitors.

“Our goal is to get the mall back to that point pre-

COVID by retaining and adding retail,” Okoroji said. The Escondido mall is the fourth California mall the two investment groups have purchased in partner- opportunities. ship. The other three are Antelope Valley Mall in Palmdale, Northridge Mall in Salinas and the Shops at Montebello.

The new owners’ goal is to focus on right-sizing the mall’s retail aspect by maintaining current tenants and finding new ones to take over the many vacant spaces.

“We have a significant number of national tenants that want to be here; we just need to identify more tenants,” Okoroji said.

Only Macy’s and JCPenney remain from the original anchor stores. Sears and Nordstrom closed in 2020.

No tenant is lined up for the Nordstrom space, but the city has entered into a new lease agreement with Costco to take over the former Sears location.

“We’re supportive of bringing in Costco,” Okoroji said.

The mall occupies 83 acres at the southern end of Escondido. The city owns all but 9 acres.

Redeveloping the mall to include mixed-use residential is currently out of reach for the new owners, though it could be discussed down the road.

According to Jennifer Schoeneck, Deputy Director of Economic Development for the city, apartments are only allowed on site if voters pass a measure to allow such use.

Though residential space on the mall property isn’t happening anytime soon, the new owners are considering the addition of a hotel, which is an approved use for the area.

Another piece being considered is a theater, which could fill the void with Regal Escondido’s upcoming closure and other entertainment possibilities.

“We want this to be a family-oriented destination,” Okoroji said. “We’re finding things for all ages.” and focus groups.

For now, the mall will be known as North County Mall, but Okoroji said his company plans to poll local residents on the new name.

“It’s hunting season for superintendents right now, and so an aggressive timeline could serve the board well in getting the well-vetted candidates who may be out looking,” Rutherford said.

Once the application period closes on March 24, ESS will use various criteria to rank the candidates for the board, which will begin reviewing applications in mid-April. The board is then scheduled to interview candidates at the end of April and, ideally, ratify a contract with a chosen candidate by May 17.

The district is seeking its first permanent superintendent since the firing of Cheryl James-Ward, who was placed on leave in April 2022, just months after her hire, due to her comments about the Chinese American community that many criticized as racist.

Tina Douglas has served as interim superintendent since then, and while she stated at one point that she would resign by early 2023, she has more recently agreed to continue through the end of the school year.

Much of the Feb. 23 meeting revolved around community input in the process. Several public speakers and Trustee Phan Anderson expressed the desire for an advisory search committee that would be involved in the interview and even the selection process.

“Hiring a superintendent is too momentous and long-lasting for five people to be the sole decision-makers, especially as this is a newly elected, mostly inexperienced board,” said resident Marcel Chambers.

Anderson emphasized that she would like an advisory board with different community members appointed by each trustee to serve as “assistants” in helping select a candidate. Specifically, she wants to see parents' voices in this process.

“I’m not superwoman, I'm not Wonder Woman — I need all the help I can get,” Anderson said.

Lovely advised against such a panel, saying that candidates would be less likely to apply if they knew that non-board members would be involved in their interview due to confidenti ality concerns.

Other trustees agreed, with the majority saying they would like to gather input via town halls at dif ferent school sites, surveys that will be shared in dif ferent languages, and focus groups with stakeholders in special education, the Parent Teacher Associa tion and foundations, En glish language learner pro grams, administration and executive teams, employee associations, and student groups.

Trustee Katrina Young also requested ESS to reach out to a list of historically underrepresented minority groups to ensure their voic es are heard.

Anderson and Trust ee Michael Allman did not support focus groups, argu ing that they lead to specif ic individuals being exclud ed, but were overruled by the board majority. Ruther ford added that people not included in focus groups could use the other input

“We can’t necessarily speak to every man, woman and child in the district, but we can certainly make the survey available,” he said.

Using the community input they will gather through mid-March, ESS will also craft a “leadership profile” that essentially serves as the district’s wishlist for a superintendent. This profile will be presented to the board next month.

Lovely and Rutherford said they would implement an extensive background check process for all candidates, including calling both listed and unlisted references, auditing their credentials and combing the internet to avoid surprises about their history.