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Harridge buys Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza; eyes $1B overhaul
Firm’s redevelopment of 42-acre South LA property includes residential, offices, retail
Harridge Development Group has acquired the the 42-acre Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall, where it says will embark on a $1 billion redevelopment project.
The deal comes after two scrapped sales in the last year for seller Capri Capital Partners. The Los Angeles Times was first to report the sale. Capri also announced the news.
Harridge paid $111 million for the South Los Angeles retail complex. Harridge also separately purchased a Macy’s department store next door for $30 million.
Harridge said its redevelopment plans include housing, office space, retail and restaurants.
CEO David Schwartzman said the firm will start building housing on a parking lot near the Albertsons grocery store sometime before the end of 2022.
The firm is looking to convert empty department stores into offices or a vocational school, he told the Times. It would be similar to the ongoing redevelopment of nearby Westside Pavilion mall, which leased by Google in 2019.
Chicago-based Capri bought Baldwin Hills mall for $136 million in 2006, and spent around $35 million on improvements over the years. The firm won approval to redevelop the property in 2018 with nearly 1,000 housing units, a 400-key hotel, retail, and office space.
Movement on the project stalled and by early 2020, Capri agreed to sell it to CIM Group. CIM Group scrapped Capri’s redevelopment plans, opting to keep the property purely commercial.
Community criticism led CIM Group to back out of its purchase last June.
Next, developers LIVWRK and DFH Partners agreed to buy the mall in October 2020, but they too walked away by year end.
[LAT] — Dennis Lynch