A project in Carson that was expected to bring retail to the site of a former landfill has halted.
Developer group Cam-Carson is resurrecting its litigation with the city of Carson over a parcel of land that hasn’t been touched in decades.
Cam-Carson, a joint property development partnership between Santa Monica-based Macerich Co. and Indiana-based Simon Property Group, alleges it should not have to pay to maintain the parcel of land due to failed promises by the city. Simon owns a slew of shopping malls across the U.S., including the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance.
In 2018, the city of Carson worked with developers to plan a large luxury outlet mall and 1,000 residential units on top of a 157-acre piece of land on what was once a Cal Compact landfill.
But the project stalled in 2019. According to a 2020 court document filed by the developers’ representatives, the Carson Remediation Authority and its contractor, RE | Solutions “disclosed that they were running out of money and did not have the funding to complete the work” necessary to continue development.
“It became clear not only that the CRA had no money available to complete the required remediation and other work that had been committed by the city defendants, but also that the city and (the Carson Redevelopment Agency) had failed to ensure the completion of the remediation,” the document alleged.
As a result, the development paused. Cam-Carson said it had funneled $80 million into the project and should not have to pay carrying costs on the parcel. It also accused Carson of spending around $100 million of taxpayer money on the project.
“The City of Carson and Carson Reclamation Authority have continually failed to meet their obligations, which caused us to terminate our pursuit of the project which was otherwise fully funded and had tremendous retailer demand,” Mark Silvestri, the president of development at Simon, said in a statement.
In a press release, Carson officials said Simon “has failed to meet its obligations, including an outstanding debt of over $12.5 million owed to the CRA and paying its contractual carry-cost obligations.”
“As public officials, we have a responsibility not to allow private developers or anyone else to take advantage of our community,” Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes said in a statement.
The 157-acre patch of land was a landfill until 1965 and has remained untouched ever since. Though the parcel sits between the 110 and 405 freeways, its large size and history with toxic waste made developing it a tall order. The land changed hands for years until 2012, when Carson created the CRA with the sole purpose of acquiring and cleaning it up. In 2015 it was the hopeful site of an NFL stadium that didn’t materialize.
The city of Carson did not respond to a request for comment.
