DATE: 11/05/2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Economic Development Department
2025-420
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
SUBJECT:
FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE PROFESSONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH SVA
ARCHITECTS AND BUDGET APPROPRIATION FOR THE NORTH MALL
ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This staff report asks the City Council to approve a First Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with SVA Architects to provide architectural design and technical analysis services for the North Mall redevelopment project and a budget appropriation to fund the project.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
That the City Council:
a. Approve the First Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with SVA Architects in the amount of $1,482,150 for Architectural Services for the North Mall Development.
b. Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to execute the First Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with SVA Architects in the amount of $1,482,150 including any non-substantive extensions, change order, and amendments to 10% of the agreement amount, as authorized in Corona Municipal Code Section 3.08.070(I).
c. Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to issue a change order to the on-call purchase order with SVA Architects (B260001) for a total purchase order amount of $1,482,150.
d. Authorize an appropriation in the amount of $982,150 from the Measure X Fund 120 to the North Corona Mall Acquisition/Improvements, Operating and Maintenance Project No.78390.
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
The North Mall site, located at the Northeast corner of 6th and Main Streets has a site area of approximately, 9.6 acres and 7.7 acres of developable area. With strong direction from the Council and significant community input over multiple years, it was identified as a critical catalytic project of the City’s long-term Downtown Revitalization vision, as outlined in the 2020–2040 General Plan, the 2022 Downtown Revitalization Plan, and the adopted Downtown Design Guidelines. Recognized as a strategic infill opportunity, the site is envisioned to become a pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use destination that serves as a cultural, residential, and economic hub for the community. The ultimate goal for this project is to spur an overall redevelopment effort within the core of the historic Corona to rebuild a vibrant downtown.
Since 2004 the City has been working to acquire properties within the North Mall, to reassemble the fragmented ownership and facilitate the redevelopment and revitalization of this key downtown property. The City has assembled a site of sufficient size to deliver a catalytic project to assist in the revitalization of downtown.
In May 2025, a conceptual master planning study for the site was prepared with the assistance of an architectural consultant, Arcadis, providing four development options with varying levels of intensity. The intent of these scenarios is to frame potential buildout configurations and inform policy direction from the City Council on future entitlement and implementation efforts.
On July 2, 2025, the Council reviewed these four development scenarios for the redevelopment of the North Mall and provided direction to staff on the scope and scale of the new development, with a target of approximately 105,000-140,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, with a hotel and approximately 250-400 residential units, including a mix of for-sale and for-rent residential units, including a portion designated as workforce housing.
This project will serve as a model for continued private redevelopment in the area for decades to come. Thus there is a need to design this project in a thoughtful manner to provide an example for the projects that will follow and reinforce the revitalization of downtown.
ANALYSIS:
On August 4, a Request for Proposals was issued to the City’s on-call consultant list, which consists of six prequalified architects that were thoroughly vetted through a competitive consultant selection process. Four proposals were received and evaluated for consultant expertise with preparation of the necessary plans and studies, as well as costs. Based on extensive experience in designing and developing the type of mixed-use project the City is seeking, SVA Architects was selected as the most qualified firm.
As discussed at the July 2 City Council meeting, the design philosophy for this project is to draw from the significant buildings of Corona’s past, those historic buildings that were demolished in the gradual redevelopment of the downtown area in the middle of the 20th century. This “Corona Revival” style will rely on honest building materials, such as brick, tile, wood, and historic architectural proportions to recreate the original look and feel of what was originally the core of civic, employment, shopping, and dining life for residents.
This project will balance architectural consistency with the downtown, while providing updated flexible commercial space and new housing opportunities in the historic heart of the city.
SVA Architects has extensive experience in the development of hotels, residential, and mixed-use projects in Southern California. The assembled team of SVA and subconsultant personnel have demonstrated a record of high-quality design and technical expertise across numerous projects built across the state. The firm demonstrated its understanding of the City’s expectations for the project and provided an ambitious schedule to assist the City in completing this portion of the overall redevelopment efforts by the summer of 2026.
SVA Architects on-call contract award includes one discipline, Architectural Services. This First Amendment will assemble a qualified design and analytics team to work with the City to further develop the initial concepts for the North Mall mixed-use project that were presented to the City Council at its July 2 meeting. SVA Architects and its subconsultants will be tasked with developing full plans and technical analyses for Planning Commission review to entitle the project for eventual assignment to a private developer to build the desired project.
The associated contract increase affects the on-call agreement, with work spanning two fiscal years (FY 2026 and FY 2027). The total compensation amount encompasses all disciplines with only the architectural services portion receiving an increase for the design of the North Mall project. The compensation amount is structured to reflect the increase needed for each fiscal year for which the consultant will provide services for the project.
As a result, compensation for Fiscal Year FY 2026 will increase by $982,150 to a not-toexceed amount of $1,482,150 and will decrease by the same amount for FY 2027 and revert back to the original total contract award of $500,000.
Should the City Council agree to approve the First Amendment, work will commence in late-November, with design work anticipated to be completed by Summer 2026.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Approval of the recommended actions will result in an appropriation in the amount of $982,150 from the Measure X Fund 120 to North Corona Mall Acquisition/Improvements, Operating and Maintenance Project No.78390.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from the CEQA if the activity is covered by the commonsense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. The approval of this agreement will not result in a significant effect on the environment.
Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: JOEL BELDING, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR REVIEWED BY: JUSTIN TUCKER, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Exhibit 1 – Location Map
2. Exhibit 2 – SVA Architects, Inc. – First Amendment PSA Agreement