Costa Mesa changes partners in fairgrounds’ deal

From the Daily Pilot

Costa Mesa is no longer negotiating with its preferred partner to operate the Orange County Fairgrounds.

The city broke off negotiations with American Fairs and Festivals.

Instead, the city has entered into “exclusive” negotiations with Facilities Management West, the company that had previously been interested in buying the fairgrounds with a $55 million bid for it in January.

The city is now negotiating an agreement with Facilities Management to operate the fairgrounds, according to a press release the city issued late Wednesday.

Fred Armendariz of American Fairs, the group that’s made up of current vendors and stakeholders at the fairgrounds, including the company that runs the Orange County Market Place swap meet at the fairgrounds, said he was not given a reason for the change of direction by the city.

But he said that during the last few days, the city became more concerned with how much money it could make from the operations of the fairgrounds.

“We always had a revenue-sharing component, but it wasn’t the issue,” he said. “The one issue the became dominant in the last go-around was how much are you going to pay us?”

Armendariz added American Fairs offered the city a multimillion dollar deal in the first four years of the operations agreement.

It could’ve been that Facilities Management offered the city more money, Armendariz said.

The city’s press release also states that Facilities Management “agreed to public ownership of the property,” which had been the city’s the main hurdle. Costa Mesa’s invested efforts in buying the 150-acre fairgrounds for $96 million from the state is to preserve it and keep it in public hands.

Costa Mesa did not indicate that Facilities Management agreed to public ownership when it announced Tuesday evening that the group was added to the negotiations.