Valley, South Bay to Get Retail Projects

Competition among shopping centers in the Los Angeles area will get only tougher in the years ahead--developers have unveiled plans for two giant retail projects in the San Fernando Valley and the South Bay.

Los Angeles-based mall titan Westfield America plans to add nearly 600,000 square feet of retail space, including some free-standing buildings, at its Westfield Shoppingtown Topanga in the west San Fernando Valley.

The mall at Topanga Canyon and Victory boulevards in Canoga Park has more than 130 stores and nearly 5,500 parking spaces, but company officials say the property is underused. They said they are in the early phases of planning and do not have cost estimates or a timetable for construction.

“We are looking at bringing more of the uses and critical mass that is missing from the Topanga project today,” said David Doll, senior executive vice president of development.

The company also owns the recently renovated Westfield Shoppingtown Promenade, about half a mile south of the Topanga mall on Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Westfield has indicated that it is looking at potential office and residential development on land it owns between the two retail centers.

The expansion of Shoppingtown Topanga will help keep it competitive with nearby malls by attracting shoppers who had been traveling to Ventura County and Los Angeles’ Westside, strategic marketing executive Randy Smith said.

The mall’s expansion will help fill the void left by retailers, such as Montgomery Ward, that have shuttered their operations in the area, Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis P. Zine said. “As these stores close ... we are losing jobs and losing sales tax” revenue if they are not replaced, said Zine, who supports the expansion.

In the South Bay city of Carson, Carlsbad, Calif., retail developer GMS Realty and Cherokee Investment Partners plan to build a large outdoor shopping and entertainment center on the 157-acre LA MetroMall site at the 405 Freeway and Avalon Boulevard. The firms have agreed to purchase the site from the Glaziers Pension Trust, according to Ken Hira, assistant vice president with GMS Realty.

GMS would be in charge of the retail development, called South Bay Crossing, and Cherokee, a specialist in the development of brownfield sites, would manage an environmental cleanup of the site, Hira said. The parcel can accommodate about 1.5 million square feet of retail development, Hira said. Development of the site could take three to five years.