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From:Ricki Older <br />To:Bernal, Sarah <br />Subject:Redevelopment of the “First American Square site” and demolition of home office building of First American Title Insurance Building, c.1931 <br />Date:Saturday, September 21, 2019 3:43:32 PM <br /> <br />Agenda item, No. 4, meeting September 23rd, 2019 <br /> <br />RE: Redevelopment of the “First American Square site” and demolition of home office building of First American Title Insurance Building, c.1931 <br /> <br />Dear Chairman McLoughlin and members of the Planning Commission; <br /> <br />Tonight you will consider the above project for approval. Before you cast your vote we would ask you to consider the following concerns……. <br /> <br />1. While not opposed to redevelopment of the site, given the sheer size and prominence of the location careful consideration needs to be given to whatever replaces what is there today. <br />2. The site includes the original home office of First American Title Insurance Company, circa 1931. Designed by the noted architect Allen Ruoff of Los Angeles (who by the way did extensivework at Fairhaven Memorial <br />Park). <br />3. Yes it had a metal “curtain” installed in 1967, but underneath that lies a beautiful historic building. We would love to see that building adaptively reused and incorporated into this new project. <br />4. <br />5. It will be far more interesting, both architecturally and culturally as a result of the adaptive reuse. <br />6. The proposed building doesn’t even fit in with the City’s own general plan document and its Transportation EIR that was completed several years ago for the Downtown Trolley project. <br />7. Sadly, this is yet another example of the City Staff dismissing the preservation community and all that it represents in Santa Ana and in the County. <br />8. The site sits adjacent to THREE National Register Historic Districts, the 1931 building sans the metal skirt and “lick and stick bricks” is clearly eligible for listing as a historic landmark. <br />9. We have an opportunity to keep history alive in Santa Ana as they do in the great European cities. <br /> <br />We ask that you raise the bar on this development as it will have a huge impact on our downtown built environment. We have many landmarks in town that escaped the wrecking ball because good folks in our community were willing to <br />take a step back, take a deep breath and exercise good judgement. Let’s not fall victim to a developer who has their trigger finger on the D-6 Caterpillar wanting to strip our downtown of a soul. <br /> <br />Thank you for your consideration. <br /> <br />Sincerely, <br /> <br /> Ricki Older <br />Wilshire Square Past Co Chair and Former ETAC Commissioner