Two years after buying the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, a mid-20th century-era mall that’s long been an economic mainstay of South L.A.’s Black community, Harridge Development Group has filed plans to redevelop one section of the property with a mixed-use complex that includes more than 600 apartment units.
Harridge, an L.A.-based firm, is proposing a 647,000-square-foot project that would include a grocery store, retail and two apartment complexes with a combined 636 units, including 64 affordable units, according to documents the firm filed with the city. The plans constitute one phase of Harridge’s redevelopment project for the 42-acre commercial property.
A representative for Harridge did not respond to a request for comment.
Harridge’s redevelopment project would represent a major reincarnation for the mall, which dates back to the late 1940s and was one of the first major shopping centers built around the automobile. Among the dozens of tenants in the mall include an Albertsons grocery store, IHOP, Cinemark Theatres and the Afro City Marketplace, which sells products from over a dozen Black-owned businesses and designers, according to the mall’s website.
Harridge bought the property in 2021 for $111 million from Capri Capital Partners, a purchase that followed years of questions over the mall’s fate. Capri had bought it in 2006, for $136 million, and in 2018 won approval for a major redevelopment with nearly 1,000 housing units, a 400-key hotel and office space.
But that project stalled, and by early 2020 Capri had agreed to sell to CIM Group, which scrapped the resi plan and planned to keep it as a commercial property. Just weeks later CIM, facing a community backlash over potential gentrification related to CIM’s commercial overhaul, pulled out of the deal. Community opposition also helped kill another pending sale the same year, to New York-based LIVWRK and DFH Partners, who agreed to purchase the property for $110 million following the CIM pullout.
After closing its purchase deal Harridge promised a $1 billion overhaul to modernize the property.
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“It’s an iconic piece of property with a tremendous amount of cultural significance,” Harridge CEO David Schwartzman told the L.A. Times then. “The area is going through a huge revitalization and we think this is an amazing opportunity to do a mix of housing, retail and office all in one location.”
The firm’s new Phase 1 plans, which were registered with the planning department on Tuesday, include two eight-story buildings with subterranean parking. Renderings show a dark gray and white, contemporary-style build with exterior balconies and a skybridge.