Chargers have 10-year lease for Costa Mesa HQ and training facility
The lease the Los Angeles Chargers signed for space in Costa Mesa to serve as their new headquarters and training and practice facility is for 10 years, the city’s top administrator said Friday.
“I think we’ve all got to be Chargers fans moving forward,” City Manager Tom Hatch joked during a joint liaison committee meeting among the city, Costa Mesa Sanitary District and Mesa Water District.
Other details of the lease haven’t been disclosed. No one from the National Football League franchise, which is relocating from San Diego, could immediately be reached for comment.
In December, the team agreed to lease part of the Hive — a Costa Mesa office complex north of the 405 Freeway at 3333 Susan St. — and an adjacent parcel if it decided to leave San Diego for Los Angeles. The Chargers announced the move this month.
The team will play its home games at the StubHub Center in Carson until moving into a new stadium in Inglewood that it will share with the Los Angeles Rams, who moved from St. Louis last year. The new stadium is scheduled to open in 2019.
The Hive is “going to be their home, their headquarters, their practice facilities and their training facilities,” Hatch said. “So they’ll be there every day except when they’re either driving to L.A. for eight games a year or they’re in some other city playing somebody else.”
The Hive site contains three two-story office buildings totaling about 184,000 square feet. The Chargers’ lease is for the largest of the three, Building C, which is nearly 102,000 square feet.
The team also plans to lease an adjacent 3.2-acre parcel called “The Corner.”
“I think we’ve heard from them quite clearly that they want to be part of the fabric of Costa Mesa,” Hatch said. “So it’s pretty exciting.”
He acknowledged, however, that it’s possible the team could look for accommodations elsewhere in the future.
“I think we’re going to make them feel welcome,” Hatch said. “I think they’re going to like the area. Could they move somewhere else to a permanent site? Do they want to build their own facility to meet all their needs for the long term? They might.”
Hatch said the city has been meeting regularly with Chargers representatives to discuss the team’s ideas for the Costa Mesa site and determine what approvals are necessary to carry them out.
The team hasn’t submitted any official plans yet, but city interim Development Services Director Jay Trevino said those are expected in the next few weeks.
“They’re moving very quickly,” he said Friday.
Generally, Trevino said, the team is looking to remodel the interior of the office building and rework the adjacent parcel for use as a practice field.
“The entire business is being moved to Costa Mesa, so you’ve got all their administration, the coaching staff, the entire organization will be housed on this property,” he said.
Trevino said it appears that whatever approvals or permits are necessary likely can be handled by city staff and won’t require review by the Planning Commission or City Council.
Though the team has officially rebranded as the Los Angeles Chargers, some people who attended Friday’s meeting had other suggestions for the name.
“What about Costa Mesa Chargers?” asked Jim Ferryman, vice president of the sanitary district board.
“Los Angeles Chargers of Costa Mesa,” City Councilman John Stephens quipped.
Twitter: @LukeMMoney
