For many years, Brea had a Redevelopment Agency that used property tax money to help cities fund renovation projects all around town. The premise of the RDA was to redevelop blighted areas, revitalize others and create more affordable housing.
It was RDA funds that helped transform Birch Street and Brea Boulevard from a tired area into the sparkling Brea Downtown it is today. Affordable apartments were built with RDA funds, plus other modernization projects all around town.
The other shopping centers around town, the civic center and the post office were all made possible through RDA funds.
We can thank the then city manager, Wayne Wedin, for getting a major mall and Nordstrom to Brea thanks to RDA funds.
That program and its funding were ended by the state in 2012. Any remaining RDA funds and projects in progress were transferred to a Successor Agency, part of the City Council.
Without the RDA program, cities and counties up and down the state had to scramble for funds for projects and luring certain businesses to their towns. That’s how Sales Tax Sharing came to be, and in January of 2025 changes in state law made the process more transparent.
With Sales Tax Sharing, or STS, 97 California cities and at least two counties are sharing sales tax with malls, outlet centers, auto dealers, various retailers, restaurants, industrial companies and many other business entities.
Some cities have STS agreements with only one or two businesses, while many others share their sales tax revenue with several entities. Ontario has 14 STS agreements, Long Beach has eight and Corona has seven.
It was pointed out at the Jan. 20 City Council meeting that no cities make Sales Tax Sharing agreements directly with Costco. Well, San Dimas and Hawthorne have STS with Costco, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.
Also at the Jan. 20 meeting, the council voted 3-1, with Councilmember Blair Stewart absent, to create an economic development agreement that is a 50-year Sales Tax Sharing agreement with Dwight Manley, representing the DVQ Revocable Trust. The agreement and the tax sharing will be to bring a Costco store to Brea.
The proposed location that Manley is working on buying is the 34-acre property at 250 S. Kraemer Blvd., presently owned by Hines Corporation and leased to Beckman Coulter, which will remain at the site for at least two more years.
If Manley is successful in buying the property, and after Beckman Coulter leaves, all the buildings would be torn down and a Costco would be built there. Once the store opens, the sales tax it collects goes to Manley for the first two years.
Manley, who is extremely generous to the Brea Senior Center, requested that 5% of his share go to the center for its events.
And what happens in, say 20 years, Costco drops in consumer preference and the Brea store closes? According Liz Pharis, Brea’s public information officer, the agreement would cease.
When I first learned Costco might open a location in Brea, I thought it was great. I still do, but am unsure the proposed Kraemer Boulevard location is the best. Most Costcos are on major thoroughfares. Kraemer is not one.
This all has a ways to go. First, Manley has to complete the purchase of the property, then we’ll see what happens.
Terri Daxon is a freelance writer and the owner of Daxon Marketing Communications. She gives her perspective on Brea issues twice a month. Contact her at daxoncomm@gmail.com.