Plans Proceed for Ralphs Market and Fashion Museum
Living and working in the Los Angeles Fashion District may soon become more appealing as the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) on Dec. 19 approved a $220 million residential/retail project that will bring a Ralphs supermarket and 250 apartments to a section just west of the Fashion District.
Hollywood-based CIM Group this July will start construction on 127,000 square feet of retail space and five stories of lofts on the site off of 9th and Flower streets formerly occupied by the Southern California Gas Co.
CIM, headed by developer Shaul Kuba, is the same company that has helped develop Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and Old Pasadena. It also has its sights set on another property at Grand and Olive, which it has targeted for a similar mixed-use project and which may house a 10,000-square-foot annex to MODAC, the Museum of Fashion Designers and Creators.
The Gas Co. project is part of a master plan that will eventually yield 1,171 units over three blocks. The first phase of retail will be called The Market at 9th and Flower. In addition to Ralphs, CIM is negotiating leases for an International House of Pancakes restaurant, a Blockbuster video store and a dry cleaner, among others. The residential element will be called Gas Co. Lofts and will be built above the retail portion of the project. The Ralphs market is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2004 while the residential portion should open in early 2005, according to CIM.
Bringing a supermarket downtown has been the missing link to making the downtown renaissance viable, said ANJAC Fashion Buildings president Steve Needleman, who himself is developing lofts over the old Orpheum Theatre on Broadway. It will support the number of residential conversions taking place around downtown and make Los Angeles more of a “24-hour city.”
Cultural entities are also part of Los Angeles’ downtown renaissance and CIM reportedly agreed to dedicate space for MODAC, the long-planned fashion museum spearheaded by industry icon Irene Kasmer. In December, Los Angeles Councilman Nick Pacheco appealed to the CRA’s board of commissioners to support a museum annex for a site being eyed by CIM at Grand and Olive, formerly occupied by the University of California at Los Angeles.
At an Oct. 3 CRA meeting, CIM’s Kuba discussed dedicating space for the museum as part of a community benefits program that would fall under the company’s disposition and development agreement with the CRA. Kuba could not be reached for comment. Kasmer is still exploring a permanent home for the museum and has entertained the idea of a sister museum in Hollywood in discussions with Councilman Eric Garcetti.
“We’re very close. Everybody’s for it,” she said.
