Story Created:
Dec 2, 2009 at 9:25 PM PST
Story Updated:
Dec 2, 2009 at 9:25 PM PST
LYNWOOD — After swearing-in ceremonies and the annual reorganization, the Lynwood City Council, sitting as the Redevelopment Agency, voted 5-0 Tuesday to enter into a one-year exclusive negotiating agreement with Gon-Rey LLP — a developer seeking to turn six acres south of the Glenn Anderson (105) Freeway into a shopping center to include a Northgate Gonzalez Market.
Carl Middleton, vice president of Northgate Gonzalez Markets, gave the City Council and the audience a brief presentation on the plans and said that his company was excited about the project, especially the jobs it would bring into the community.
“We are very blessed with this great opportunity here in Lynwood,” Middleton said. “We are excited about the project and about the jobs.” Plus, he said, the project will bring much needed stores into the area.”
The company, Middleton said, was founded nearly 30 years ago in Anaheim. About 10 years ago, he added, the company was interested in a piece of property along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. But the property became schools.
The company’s interest in the city has returned, Middleton said. “Today we see you’ve built some great schools on that property, but we’re back and we’ve been waiting to fulfill this project.”
The project, Middleton said, will be a quality retail center for the community.
Middleton said Gon-Rey will make sure it invests the appropriate amount of money into the project to make sure it is a focal point in the community and that people from other communities will shop there as well.
The six acres lie along Long Beach Boulevard. The current plan calls for about 70,000 square feet of retail space. Among the parcels will be a Northgate Gonzalez Market.
Mayor Maria Santillan said the other parcels will have the capacity to hold such stores such as a Ross or a Marshalls. The developer, according to the mayor, has already gained the interest of In-N-Out Burgers.
There are some land contamination issues the city is working out right now, the mayor said, but that area may be used as the parking pad for the project.
In the one-year agreement, the developer will propose their plans to the city for their planned new retail, in-line shops of approximately 20,300 square feet, a pad for a restaurant approximately 3,500 square feet, and approximately 327 on-site parking spaces.
Mayor Pro Tem Aide Castro said she is a big fan of Northgate Gonzalez Markets, and said she frequents the one in Paramount.
She asked the developer about the types of businesses Gon-Rey was looking to bring into the project with them.
Middleton said he believed the project would attract top quality retailers.
Middleton said the project would “compliment” the city’s Plaza Mexico, a shopping area located on the north side of the freeway.
The project, Middleton said, will have a plaza setting and a lot of outdoor seating.
“We’ve had a lot of interest from a lot of different types of tenants,” he said.
Castro said she will be looking forward to seeing the list of tenants.
She told Middleton that she is a fan of Northgate’s produce department and hopes that when the time comes for Northgate to hire, that it give priority to Lynwood residents.
“Definitely,” he said. “We believe it does us well to have ambassadors throughout the neighborhoods that we serve.”
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