The Redondo Beach City Council and the South Bay Galleria
Forest City’s South Bay Galleria Mall in Redondo Beach is the latest dying mall headed for redevelopment.
The Redondo Beach City Council unanimously approved a large-scale redevelopment of the mall that will add new retail space and hundreds of residential units, according to Urbanize.
Forest City is teaming with Australian developer QIC to add 300 rental units, a 150-key hotel and 217,000 square feet of retail space to the mall’s 30-acre property. The partnership will likely break ground next year, with construction expected to be completed by 2023.
Gensler is designing the redevelopment. The site is next to both alignment options for the extension of the Metro’s Green Line. Both scenarios would put a station next to the site, Urbanize reported.
Forest City built the mall in 1985. The space has suffered amid declining brick-and-mortar sales and a bigger consumer shift to online retail. It’s one of a handful of malls in the Los Angeles area that being redeveloped.
Capri Capital Partners got the go-ahead last summer to move on a similar large redevelopment of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall.
Macerich and Hudson Pacific Properties are turning the Westside Pavilion into creative office and have already leased its entirety to Google.
Forest City and QIC first proposed the South Bay Galleria Mall redevelopment in 2017. The first version of the project had more residential units and higher building heights, but received some local pushback, including those concerned about added traffic it would bring. Later that year, Redondo Beach city officials enacted a temporary ban on mixed-use development.
The developers reacted by scaling the project back, reducing building height and the number of residential units.
[Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch