The Lab, Here to Stay, Buys ‘the Buildings and the Dirt’

Owners of The Lab, a retail complex on Bristol Avenue in Costa Mesa that’s anchored by Urban Outfitters and Tower Records stores, have used a $4.075-million loan from Nomura Asset Capital Corp. to acquire the 40,000-square-foot project.

“The project has been successful, and we want to be here long-term, so we bought the buildings and the dirt,” said Lab founder Shaheen Sadeghi. “It gives us the tax benefits, we don’t have to worry about the lease and, from a purely business perspective, it looks like Bristol Street has a good, improving future.”

Sadeghi, who spent much of the past year helping produce a line of apparel for Tower Records, plans to actively seek a second location for The Lab during 1997. He said that a proposed location in Seattle recently fell through after months of negotiations with municipal officials faltered.

“I’m going to get on planes . . . to poke around for the right kind of location,” Sadeghi said. “It would be easier for me to control if it were on the West Coast, but if the right spot in Orlando, Fla., pops up, that wouldn’t stop us from moving.”

The Lab describes itself as an “anti-mall.” The buildings that house 15 smaller stores, an herb and vegetable garden, a performing arts area and a restaurant, were vacant when Sadeghi’s group took them over three years ago. The building had earlier housed a company that manufactured night vision goggles for the military.

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Greg Johnson covers retail businesses and restaurants for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-5950 and at [email protected]