From left: Council President Herb Wesson, Arman Gabay and a new renderings of the District Square
Arman Gabay has another problem to add to his growing list.
The developer’s ambitious new version of his long-stalled District Square project in Crenshaw is facing two new appeals.
An appeal filed by the Crenshaw Subway Coalition says the 570-unit mixed-use development shouldn’t move forward in light of Gabay’s arrest on federal bribery charges last year, according to Curbed. In May 2018, federal prosecutors charged Gabay — who co-founded development firm Charles Company — with bribing a Los Angeles County official to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for the county leasing space at the firm’s Hawthorne Plaza mall.
Gabay also now has defaulted on $6.3 million in federal loans for the District Square project, according to reports.
Gabay’s project, now a decade in the making, would rise at 3670 Crenshaw Boulevard at the intersection of the newly renamed Obama Boulevard.
The embattled developer’s newest version of the development tripled the number of residential units, bringing the total to 573.. Restaurants, a grocery store, and other commercial space is also part of the proposal.
Besides Gabay’s arrest, the appeal cites the proposed number of market-rate units as being unaffordable to most people in the neighborhood, and fuel rent increases in the surrounding area.
His first proposal had strong support from now-Council President Herb Wesson. But in May, Wesson said that the Charles Company “should get out the way,” and let another developer take on the project. A spokesperson said Wesson hasn’t met with the Charles Company for the project in over a year. [Curbed] — Dennis Lynch