Yorba Linda hires company to help city recruit, retain businesses for neighborhood centers

A city-sponsored effort to attract and retain businesses in Yorba Linda's several retail centers – which could add dollars to the city treasury through added sales tax revenue – is underway.

City Council members have approved an agreement with Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc., known by the initials JLL, that will “assist the city in providing retail recruitment and attraction services to retail centers throughout the city,” according to Economic Development Manager Pam Stoker.

The one-year pact costs the city $60,000 and includes an option for two one-year extensions. Monthly progress reports will be submitted listing the time, contacts and work completed, with deliverables including statistical reports, retail analysis and related studies specific to the city.

JLL is a worldwide real estate management and services company that traces its ancestry to a British firm founded in 1783. The New York Stock Exchange-listed company has some 300 offices in 80 counties, with the nearest to Yorba Linda located in Irvine.

In her report to the council, Stoker cited “the city's desire to work with a brokerage firm that can actively seek and attract highly desired commercial and restaurant tenants to our city's regional and neighborhood shopping centers.”

Four firms submitted proposals to the city, with JLL selected after several interviews. Stoker reported: “JLL stood out among the interviewers as having a local presence and a proven track record for assisting cities in attracting quality and unique retailers into a local market.”

The city “intends to work closely with the professional firm to provide pertinent information and assist in identifying retail leakage, site opportunities and community/neighborhood strengths,” Stoker stated.

Three specific goals are noted in the 15-page agreement, including updating research “to determine sales tax leakage and which retailers and restaurants should be within the city.”

A second is to “increase occupancy throughout the city” by targeting “void categories” as determined by analysis, as well as retail and restaurants that are requested by residents.

Third is a strategy for the shopping centers at the Imperial Highway and Yorba Linda Boulevard intersection that would identify appropriate tenants for each of the centers.

This strategy would consider the city's changing demographics, the changing nature of retail and how the city's major centers “can complement rather than compete against each other to best meet future market demands,” according to the contract.

In discussing the contract, the council members pointed to several challenges related to the city's shopping centers, including several property owners in a single center, foreign owners who are difficult to contact and family ownership with differing views from family members.

JLL must comply with the city's minority business enterprise program, affirmative action plan and other related programs.