Deal seems near for land behind defunct Indio mall; community wants more than retail

A deal could be near for the city-owned property behind the defunct Indio Grand Marketplace mall, but longtime community members have their doubts about its future. 

The HCL Indio Land Development company provided an update on plans for the long-vacant mall site during Wednesday’s City Council meeting, prompting testimony from residents who say the property should be returned to the community that was displaced decades ago.

The city entered into exclusive negotiations with the HCL in May for the potential sale of five parcels behind the mall totaling 15.35 acres on John Nobles Avenue between Monroe Street and Rubidoux Street.

This marks the second attempt at a deal between the city and HCL, which owns the defunct mall and is headed by Empire Polo Club owner Alexander Haagen III. A previous disposition and development agreement in 2022 expired when ambitious plans for a 150-room hotel, hundreds of apartment units, restaurants and a public park fell through.

Don Kelly, president and chief financial officer of the HCL, told the council that significant progress has been made in the first six months of negotiations. The city has been working to remove approximately 31 easements on the property that impede development, with 13 of the 31 already removed. “Most of these easements appear to be with either the gas company or IID,” Kelly said. “So it’s just a matter of going through the process and dealing with it.”

However, Kelly said environmental questions from a 2021 review need to be resolved before negotiations can proceed. “The work that they did in 2021 answered some questions, but it also raised some questions that will need to get resolved, ultimately, before we would continue to actually negotiate to acquire the property,” Kelly said. “It potentially is nothing, but it just needs to be looked at.”

Kelly said once the environmental contingency is cleared, the company is ready to begin drafting a disposition and development agreement. 

New construction coming to mall site soon

February marks six years since HCL acquired the property, but Kelly said the company is one permit away from starting construction on two buildings along Highway 111 as a part of its efforts to revitalize the mall, with three additional buildings planned with tenants close to being secured. 

The buildings would be located along the Highway 111 frontage from Harbor Freight running east through Rubidoux. Once construction is complete on the first two buildings, the company plans to relocate the mall’s final remaining tenant and demolish the interior mall structure, while keeping the former Gottschalks and Sears buildings for potential reuse.

Kelly emphasized the company’s long-term commitment to Indio. “Mr. Haagen is very committed to this community,” he said. “We’re not just some out of town developer. We’re in this. We’ve been here. We’re going to build something here the city is going to be proud of.”

Community voices skepticism

However, several community members at Wednesday’s meeting expressed skepticism about the latest plans. One speaker proposed that the city offer to sell the Nobles Ranch area back to the original community for what the city paid, suggesting that instead of using the land for more shopping, it could be used for a church, private school, health center, or affordable housing.

“We’ve heard it all before. We’ve heard this story,” the speaker said. “You just heard this man with no plan come up here and give no plan for that land.”

Mayor Elaine Holmes acknowledged the delicate nature of the project’s history and encouraged collaboration with the local community. “We look forward to really working with the local community there to give them something that they can be proud of,” Holmes said.

Mayor Pro Tem Waymond Fermon added, “It’s been too long,” he said. “When that [the destruction of John Nobles Ranch] happened, I was nine years old. I’ll be 46 in a couple weeks. So it’d be an honor to do something to get this done.”

The 12-month exclusive negotiating agreement approved in May can be extended for two additional six-month periods with mutual agreement between the developer and city manager.

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