Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza plans massive expansion

A promotional display has popped up in the middle of the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza mall. On it are pretty renderings that depict what one developer hopes the downtrodden mall can transform into. The revitalization project, which is still in early planning stages, hopes to add 2.5m sf of retail, residential, office, and hotel to the existing 1m sf mall. The new mall would resemble more of an "urban village" with pedestrian pathways and access to the planned Crenshaw corridor lightrail.

In the CEQA "Notice of Preparation" document compiled by the CRA, the plan calls for 1.8m sf of retail/entertainment, 150k sf office, a 400 room hotel and about 1000 dwelling units. The majority of the newly constructed buildings would be built on what are now surface parking lots, and all parking would be concentrated in two large structures at the southwest corner of the site. From the looks of the proposed site plan, the developer is aiming for an LA Live South, complete with "public plazas," restaurants, and an "entertainment district." This will be an ambitious, even dubious, feat. Rios Clementi Hale Studios prepared the initial architectural designs. The developer is Capri Capital Partners of Chicago, who has owned the property since 2006.

The LA Sentinel reports that support for the mall addition is strong in the local area, likely because it will add investment and jobs to a part of the city that has long lacked both. But projects of this magnitude rarely get off the ground in the current economic climate, and unfortunately this project's location poses a huge hurdle to its financial feasibility. LA Live barely scraped through on its final phases, and that was with lots of public money and a pre-recession groundbreaking. The Grand Avenue project, one of the largest and most exclusive mixed-use proposals out there, is on the back burner and running out of steam. But perhaps Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza can take advantage of its under-market status. When Macy's moved out of the historic Broadway department store building in the late 1990s, Wal-Mart was quick to fill the void, and remain's the only Wal-Mart in Los Angeles and the only 3-story Wal-Mart. Developers must be careful to improve the center in a lucrative and prestigious way, while preserving the African-American identity and pride of place the mall has come to embrace.

Italian Rail Manufacturer to Commence "Greening" of Downtown

AnsaldoBreda, the Italian lightrail manufacturer that has held a contract with MTA in the past, has been entrusted to build a "green" industrial plant near the LA River, in anticipation of extended contracts with Metro. The Community Redevelopment Agency is expediting its decision to allow the company to build on the exclusive site in exchange for a renewed $300 million contract with Metro. MTA criticized the Italian firm for its handling of the delivery of the 50 cars shown in the video above, but the firm has promised 650 full-time area jobs to accompany the plant and corporate headquarters. At 12% unemployment, the city is hardly in a position to turn them down.

Under the agreement, AnsaldoBreda will lease 16 of the 20 acres for 50 years, allowing the city to seek other tenants. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the CRA hope a "clean plant" on the corner of 15th St and Santa Fe Ave will anchor a string of new green technology centers in the city's emptying industrial core. The city, which purchased the prized property from the state in 2008, is demanding a $15 million deposit from the company, with annual rents approaching $1 million. AnsaldoBreda, which has produced lightrail cars for cities across the US and Europe, is anxious to be granted the new 100 car contract, which will provide the MTA with its necessary arsenal for the new Expo and Gold lightrail lines.

These negotiations are a prime example of how complex local private-public partnerships can be. The mayor's office, the CRA, the MTA, and AnsaldoBreda all have distinct goals and interests for the outcome of the agreements. In theory, everyone can win - AnsaldoBreda saves money by manufacturing locally, the mayor gets bragging rights on job creation and green technology, the CRA gets development in a blighted neighborhood, and the MTA gets its cars. But the red tape and the pricetag bargains mean it's not so easy. The LA Times published a smart article that outlines the city's plans for a grand redevelopment of the industrial wasteland straddling the river downtown. Let's hope this works, because if it doesn't, Villaraigosa will be remembered as the mayor that promised everything and delivered absolutely nothing.

Despite Inner Strife, MOCA Creeps into Little Tokyo

On Monday, The Museum of Contemporary Art announced plans for a major three-story, 90,000 sf expansion, to be built in a parking lot adjacent to their current Geffen Contemporary warehouse location in Little Tokyo. Program calls for 18,000 sf of exhibition space, 6,000 sf of educational space, and a whopping 66,000 sf of storage, to help unload some of the pressure at the Grand Ave location. The plan will be presented to the Zoning Administration on April 14 and will require subsequent approval from the Community Redevelopment Agency, which has jurisdiction over downtown development.

But this comes at a funny time for the museum. Last November MOCA released news of a searing financial quandary, spurred by reckless spending and a shrinking endowment. The institution was bailed out soon after by billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad. But Broad's $30 million gift was an exertion of powerful control, and prompted the resignation of MOCA's director Jeremy Strick. As he has done with LACMA, Broad quickly took the reigns, shuttering the Little Tokyo annex and slashing budget and staff by 20%. Whether Broad has been given or has exerted too much control is debatable and frankly, moot - no one else has his will or spending power.

The project will be a slow one - 5 years until groundbreaking after approval and 18 months of construction thereafter. But with the museum walking on dangerously thin ice, no one is complaining about slow growth. Dubious of bank credit and public contribution, the project will be funded exclusively by private donations. An interesting design feature of the museum's plan is a glass partition system enclosing the storage space, allowing visitors to see pieces that aren't on exhibit. Now if only the museum's frivolous spending practices could be made more transparent.