Harridge to Add Apartment Campus, Grocery to South L.A. Mall

Harridge Development Group is moving forward with a redevelopment of the 42-acre Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in South Los Angeles, which was one of the first regional malls to be built in the US.

The company has filed plans to redevelop a portion of the property into a 647K SF mixed-use complex that will include 636 apartment units and a grocery. The plans call for two apartment buildings, of which 64 units will be designated as affordable.

Harridge bought the property in 2021 for $111M from Capri Capital Partners. Capri acquired the mall in 2006 for $136M; in 2018, Capri received approval for a major redevelopment that was planned to include 1,000 housing units and a 400-room hotel.

When it purchased the mall, Los Angeles-based Harridge said it would undertake a $1B redevelopment of Crenshaw Plaza. When it bought the mall, Harridge made a separate purchase of a Macy’s store next door for $30M.

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza was one of the first regional shopping centers to be built specifically for the automobile when it was completed in 1947.

Two anchor buildings at the mall, which is located at 3650 West Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., retain their original Streamline Moderne style. The mall has become a major economic and cultural hub for the Black community in Baldwin Hills.

When it opened in 1947, what was then known as The Broadway-Crenshaw Center was the first post-WWII open-air retail complex in the state of California.

The Crenshaw Center was anchored by a 200K SF, five-story branch of The Broadway department store. The Broadway Building, designed by Albert B. Gardner, is a premier example of Streamline Moderne an Art Deco offshoot that was inspired by aerodynamic design with an emphasis on curving forms and long horizontal lines.

Streamline Moderne was often used in the 1930s for buildings related to transportation and movement, including bus and train stations, airport terminals and port buildings. The buildings feature rounded corners, porthole windows, chrome-plated hardware and horizontal grooves or lines in the walls.

Loading at the Center was done below ground via an underground service tunnel stretching the length of the property.