A Mall in Need

I'd like to share an interesting article from this week's edition of the Los Angeles Downtown News about the Los Angeles Mall, a shopping center in the Civic Center owned and operated by the City of Los Angeles. Most Angelenos are probably unaware that this place even exists...the L.A. Mall definitely needs some "T.L.C." This article does such a good job of chronicling the center's deficiencies that I have nothing to add. Suffice it to say that as a Civic Center employee, Downtown booster, and shopping mall aficionado, I fully support Councilwoman Hahn's efforts to breathe some life into this forlorn place.

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Shopping for a Solution

Much Maligned L.A. Mall Is Targeted for Extreme Makeover

by Kathryn Maese

It's been called every name in the book. Dirty. Ugly. Dark. Outdated. Most recently, Councilwoman Janice Hahn added a few choice words of her own to describe the City-run Los Angeles Mall: "fragmented, dilapidated and uninviting."

Call it what you will, the subterranean retail strip just east of City Hall has been a running joke for more years than civic leaders care to recall. Most who speak about the early-1970s throwback do so with derision.

It's a reputation Hahn said she wants to change.

There is a better idea for this mall. Right now it is languishing," said Hahn, who once co-managed the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Mall, and whose 15th District includes portions of South Los Angeles and the harbor area. "I'm doing this for all the city employees who every day give a collective groan when it's time for lunch. We also have a new urban lifestyle developing in Downtown and people living here 24-7."

Last month, Hahn drafted a motion asking the General Services Department and the Chief Administrative Office to report back to the Council's Information Technology & General Services Committee, which she chairs, on how to give the facility some sex appeal.

Bounded by Temple, Main, Los Angeles and Aliso streets, the shopping center is marred by uneven walkways, drab architecture, dim lighting and lack of visibility from the street and plaza level. Last year, the Downtown Breakfast Club lampooned the L.A. Mall for being one of the worst projects in Downtown over the last 25 years. During a video spoof, public television host Huell Howser sarcastically raved about the design and, in his Tennessee twang, said, "I love to come down here on sunny days."

Hahn also wants to extend the hours, keeping the mall open on evenings and weekends. "The outdated concept of nine to five is crazy," she said. "That's why in the past we haven't been able to get tenants like CPK and Cheesecake Factory. Now we have a whole new constituency."

Many Failed Attempts

The undertaking may sound simple, but Hahn is only the latest Civic Center denizen to tackle the thorny piece of real estate. In the late 1980s and early '90s, the city hired a consultant to turn the property around and attract big name tenants. The plan, like the mall itself, ended up collecting dust. Hahn's motion said, "Those plans appear to have been set aside for unknown reasons."

More than a decade later, the Downtown Los Angeles landscape is much changed from the time when Mayor Tom Bradley was in office and Disney Hall was a mere twinkle in architect Frank Gehry's eye. Hahn said she plans to use Downtown's momentum to improve the mall once and for all, perhaps tying it into the nearby $1.8 billion Grand Avenue plan, which is expected to deliver a promenade of shops, restaurants and entertainment.

"I think we have this whole experience happening in Downtown and a lot of things coming online," she said. "We can bask in some of that glory."

Basking will have to wait, however. Currently the L.A. Mall is a mishmash of merchants: There are 11 tenants offering haircuts, Lotto tickets, gifts, shoe repair and other services, along with 13 eateries and four retail stores. Of the 47,867 square feet of mall space, city offices account for a huge chunk - 22,300 square feet.

More than two years ago, Controller Laura Chick audited the city's real estate holdings, including the Los Angeles Mall. The report found that the venue lacks a strategic plan focusing on maximizing revenues, improving customer satisfaction, and creating convenient public access to city offices.

"The Los Angeles Mall is a perfect example of unfulfilled and unrealized potential. Here we have this prime commercial space, right in the core of our Civic Center, and it is only a shadow of what it could be," Chick said in the audit.

Revenues have gone up and down over the years for a variety of reasons, said Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., the city's director of asset management, who oversees the facility. For example, revenues dropped after 9-11 because new security procedures were implemented and the streets around City Hall were blocked off. In the last fiscal year, the mall generated $462,846.

"The mall hours are limited to 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., which significantly impacts revenue generation by merchants," said Jones-Sawyer. "There is no customer traffic after 5 p.m. [and] subsequently retail shops' revenue generation is negatively impacted."

Recent efforts to lease the vacant slots have drawn little interest from retailers, often resulting in vendor proposals that are similar to existing mall tenants. No leases were signed in 2004; three have been inked this year.

Currently, mall rents are well below the average of $4.25 a square foot that newer retail space such as the Grove shopping mall commands, or even the $3.25 a square foot landlords fetch at older malls, said Ingrid White, senior managing director for Charles Dunn Company's retail services group.

Bits of Momentum

When and if Hahn's plan moves forward, it could build on small bits of momentum. In July, the city approved a five-year lease for a 3,611-square-foot California Pita and Grill restaurant. It will replace the Bob's Big Boy that occupied the slot for almost 30 years. This could bring the city monthly revenues of $4,500, or $1.25 a square foot.

Likewise, exercise studio Curves is negotiating a lease for an 1,800-square-foot mall location; it would pay $2,250 a month, or $1.22 a square foot. The space was previously occupied by a city office and has been vacant for nearly a year. But for Curves franchise owner Mickey Verma, the main attraction is foot traffic, which the city estimates at about 20,000 people daily.

"We thought that it seemed like a good space and it's surrounded by a lot of density and population from City Hall, the police department and Caltrans," she said. "When I first walked into the space I thought it had potential. My first impression is that it was not really clean but the person I talked to assured me it would change."

White said older properties like the Los Angeles Mall have high operating expenses that reduce revenue. She noted that landlords typically take the cost of property taxes, insurance and maintenance for items such as air conditioning, and divide it into each tenant's rent according to their square footage.

"It sounds like they are doing the best they can with what they have but there needs to be an investment in the center," White said.

Hahn, who recently returned from a shopping center convention in Las Vegas, said she spoke with several potential tenants and developers. She also brought Jones-Sawyer to the event to glean ideas about how to improve the facility.

"The mall facade needs at least a facelift and at best it needs to be completely reconstructed," said Jones-Sawyer, who noted that the current space is really just a food and service court for government employees and clients.

Though a new strategic plan is expected to take several months, Hahn said she has three years and nine months - the time until her term expires - to make sure the city revamps the mall.

"I worked in the shopping center industry and I know that it's not the best thing government does," Hahn said. "We need to start better management of the mall."

The rundown Los Angeles Mall across from City Hall has stymied city leaders who have sought to redevelop it. Councilwoman Janice Hahn is leading the latest effort to make the retail strip relevant. Photo by Gary Leonard.