Glendale Boulevard facade. Rendering from Westside Retail
The owners of a triangular lot bounded by Glendale Boulevard, Montana Street and Lake Shore Avenue are now looking for restaurants or other retailers to set up shop on what they refer to as an “island” at a busy Echo Park intersection. This island is relatively small, with room for only about 4,000-square-foot of retail space and and outdoor dining area facing north in the direction of the Echo Park KFC, according to plans presented in sales material from Westside Retail. Six years ago, Council District 13 proposed buying the now vacant lot – the site of a former gas station – for public green space but that deal fell through. Instead, under a deal approved last year by the City Council, the city gave up a portion of the sidewalk and Lake Shore Avenue so the developer could create more green space. (Lake Shore will also be turned into a one-way, southbound street with diagonal park). But a peek at the site plan does not reveal much in the way of green space, except for a bike rack near some raised planters at the southern tip of the lot.
How much will it cost to settle on this retail island? A 1,000-square-foot slice will cost you about $5,000 a month, according to the marketing flyer.
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
that looks like the most unappetizing place to eat anything, ever.
What a waste of space!
Of all the thing that they could put there, why this ugly thing?
Strange that they are proposing to leave the triangular shaped outdoor patio open. Don’t they know the latest trend in the neighborhood is to enclose triangular outdoor patios behind a 6′ tall concrete block wall?
get over the block wall already ….jeezus !
^^Seriously. Get. Over. It.
So now Lake Shore will be one-way, southbound? Back when The Eastsider reported on the deal last year, the street was going to be northbound. That’s the way I — and, I suspect, others — frequently use it to get home while avoiding the commuter traffic that’s backed up on the approach to the 2 Fwy. I don’t think I’ve ever driven southbound on that stretch of Lake Shore in my life. Ahhhhh, the wonders of the privatization of public space.
That building is beyond ugly, the site plan is unambitious and the rendering is laughable. I really wish someone with better taste was developing that property, it’s a great opportunity to improve this intersection very much gone to waste.
Baby steps towards a better glendale blvd! Sweet! Anyone who enjoys the current state of Glendale blvd is either blind or a masochist.
now that’s one building i’d like to hide behind a 6 foot cinder block wall. it looks like a car dealership from 1983!
That looks like it should be in Laguna Niguel, not Echo Park!
@Palermo: I actually get more of a “Laguna Woods” vibe…
Good luck getting that rent
Garcetti alleged when he did this street giveaway that it was to allow the owner to build on space he otherwise would have to use for parking, because the poor little restauranteur couldn’t make a living otherwise.
Now it turns out this poor little restauranteur isn’t even a restauranteur, is just another developer looking to build and sell at top price, and the free land makes him richer still?! We give him land for free, and he turns around and sells it at top price!?
Why were we misinformed previously, led to think this vacated street was going to who would be occupying the space!? Instead it goes merely to lining a developer’s pocket?!
How much has this developer given to the Garcetti campaign? Is this just a legalized kickback scheme?
What crap! Horrible building, over-priced rent, no public improvements whatsoever. We would have been better off with the gas station …
Another coomercial bldg to sit vacant and blight-y in Echo Park. yay!
Yes, tens of thousands of cars pass by every day — but there’s very little foot traffic. This location is a dud.
Anything is better than an empty lot that it is right now.
Empty lots are fine. We really don’t need every
square inch filled with some crappy building.
Buildings in Echo Park should have some taste.
This is such a beautiful neighborhood
As long as it’s not another f’n church!
I’d been hoping that the plan to turn the lot into a parklet was on hold, unaware that it had fallen apart. Now I guess all I can hope is for that Sim City-style rendering to be rendered a reject and for the developer to go back to the drawing board and come up with something a little more visually appealing. But with a name like “Westside Retail,” I won’t hold my breath.
odd name for a restaurant, “tenant sign”. i don’t think that will go over well, given the uproar over the mohawk bend sign.
I’m thinking the rendering and plan are really schematic. It probably shows the most square footage you can place on the site. It still has yet to go through the proper channels, like the neighborhood council, EPIA, etc. LADBS doesn’t have any activity on the site other than trash violations.
if they build this, i’m leaving. if i wanted to live near the grove i’d move to that side of town. i live where Montana ends on EP Ave, parking is bad enough from The Echo, Echoplex, Redhill, AYT, Gold Room, El Prado….now a shopping ctr? People who own property in this city want to make everything a hotspot. I like the places i listed above, but seriously i will not tolerate a mall. I’d rather live in Diamon Bar, at least parking is good.
That needs to be turned into a park.
yes! or community garden.