Breakwater Town Center (9th and Palm development) - Imperial Beach

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A lot of people in town have been scratching their heads about the Breakwater Town Center at 9th and Palm, sometimes mistaken as a giant mole hill, an extension of the estuary, or an attempt at a new green space for our community. Just kidding (after all, humor is allowed on this site)! But really, what's up? If you're familiar with what's going on, please add your knowledge here or correct anything that needs correcting.

Background

The Breakwater Town Center is a proposed 42,000 square foot retail strip mall located at the corner of 9th and Palm, where the old Miracle Shopping Center used to be. Ahh, those were the good ol' days. Here's a little history...

From 2008-09: the debt redevelopment agency of the city issued a request for proposals for redeveloping the 9th/Palm property. The city selected Sudberry-Palm LLC.[2]
October 2011: The city approved a "Dissolution and Development Agreement" (DDA) and "entitled" the strip mall, which basically means that the site was slated for development and reviewed for environmental impact, design and site plan review and permitting.[2]
July 2013: The California Department of Finance rejected the development, because:
1. The city sold the two parcels at 9th/Palm worth millions of dollars for $1 to Sudberry, LLC, which "does not follow the spirit of state law to dissolve redevelopment agencies".
2. The DDA was signed after a deadline after which time the city had no right to the property.[3]
September 2013: Site appraised at $213,000 as-is. Is this true? This is what the UT article says. [2]
January 2014: Something happened (what?), and the development got California Department of Finance approval.[4]
November 2014: Colton Sudberry was interviewed by Dig Imperial Beach editor Paul Spear after Mr. Sudberry, expressed that he felt there was misinformation about the development during the mayoral campaign and in local publications. He also said that the project experienced a major setback after the State of California in 2009 dissolved Redevelopment Agencies (RDAs). According to the article, "This left the City of Imperial Beach and Sudberry Properties in a state of limbo. The Rules of the game were changed but there were no new rules put in place on how to move forward without the help of the Redevelopment Agency. So it was left to the City of Imperial Beach and the Mayor, City Council and City Manager to deal with Sacramento and find out what they needed to do to be able to move forward without the old rules or new rules in place." According to Mr. Sudberry, the center would have an anchor tenant lined up at a week from the publication of the interview. [5]

Updates

The sign on the property says that construction will commence in 2015.

Resources

9th and Palm Long Range Property Management Plan
"For lease" plan for Breakwater Town Center, released by Retail Insight

Questions

Does anyone know when in 2015 construction will start?
Do we know yet which stores are going to move in? Who is going to be the anchor tenant?
Will the center be just commercial, or mixed residential/commercial? What are the details?