FLASH As we speak Redondo Beach is filing suit to block Nordstrom from moving to Torrance.
Center of Controversy
Announced recently are plans to renovate and further develop the north and west sides of Del Amo Fashion Center beginning in 2013. The owners of the mall; Simon Property Group and J.P. Morgan announced their plans on December 11th along with Torrance Mayor Scotto. Nordstrom will be moving into the mall when all renovations are completed between 2013 and 2017.. Nordstrom will be moving from their present location in the South Bay Galleria. The exterior of the mall will be remodeled and re designed, the food court will be completely renovated into a garden environment, many parking spaces added along with other improvements. The older buildings on the west side of the mall will be torn down and replaced with the new home for Nordstrom. The goal is to return the mall to its former title of the biggest shopping center in the nation. The new mall is expected to add an additional $2-$3M in revenues for the city of Torrance when completed.
The property at Marine Avenue and 405 freeway has been vacant for years and is now destined to house two new hotels. Financing for the two projects was approved by the City Council and plans are now going forward. A Marriot Residence Inn and a Hilton Garden Inn have been approved for the vacant 5 acre site. Both buildings will be 4 stories and have around 320 rooms combined. The site is close to the Metro Green Line station and the two hotels will be the first new hotels built in Redondo Beach in several decades. The city of Redondo Beach is going to financially back the project which will cost approximately $60M to complete. The 5 acre parcel of land has been vacant for years since the Malibu Castle closed in 2005. It is anticipated that the project will produce $2M annually for the city coffers. Construction should start soon with an anticipated completion in Mid 2014
A $21M design for the much awaited Torrance Transit Center was announced this week according to the Daily Breeze. The will be constructed on over 16,000 square ft. former industrial land near Del Amo Blvd. and Crenshaw Blvd. Some plans are still ongoing. Those plans include a possible linking to the Torrance Transit Center with the Green Rail Line. Since much of the money going toward the Transit Center is being provided by the transportation taxes collected, there is a good chance to see the rail line extension eventually approved and built. A huge parking lot will be built and a retail building was originally planned but was slashed at the last minute.
Location of Transit Center
Many local developers are interested in building a retail complex. Experts are looking for an environmental impact report on the possible retail complex by the end of the year. Metro Rail is working to solve any problems with bringing the Metro line to Torrance and hopes to announce something positive soon, or when funding for the line can be solved.
Originally over 7 square miles of trees and dirt roads, Lomita California has survived natural disasters, boundary disputes, world wars, civil wars, some oil booms, and more. On top of all the disputes and wars, Lomita found that it was slowly being gobbled up by the neighboring cities, all anxious to annex everything until the little community literally was no more. After many attempts to incorporate as a city, Lomita finally made it happen in 1964 and that was to stop the booming development and continuing annexation attempts. Now only 1.87 miles square Lomita began to start controlling its own future by taking over the children’s schooling and the local water district.
What started out as a rural quiet community, with only a simple ranch house and some out buildings and barns on the old Narbonne property, a few dirt roads, a couple of fruit orchards and a narrow gauge electric railroad that stopped on Western Avenue, Lomita has grown into a modern city with warm and welcoming residents and still retains it’s quiet rural atmosphere and standard of living.
Watch this beautiful Video of the South Bay and you will understand why sop many reside here.
Housing sales are starting to go up, building starts are up, condo and townhome sales are setting new records in some areas. And we are seeing an upswing in South Bay real estate. Mortgage rates are still at an all time low. Lenders say they have money to lend. Lenders have tightened up their processing and underwriter guidelines, which is slowing down overall processing and funding times.
Experts say that if there is no unforeseen crisis in the near future the trend should continue with gradual increase in sales. Foreclosures and lack of inventory is affecting many markets across the country at the present time, and that should start improving gradually. One factor that is helping to fuel the gains is heavy buying by investors, many paying cash for hot properties. Flipping houses is again being advertised heavily which causes some concerns. Many experts feel that “flipping” along with other factors was a major cause of some of the real estate problems of recent years.
The pace of building is picking up as well, with housing starts in some states like Washington, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas and South Carolina are likely to near the levels last seen in the 2000-2003 period, by the end of this year. Construction industry experts are predicting a possible 17-20% increase in new housing starts. General increases in building permit applications are already being seen in some “hot market” areas.
So what’s the down side of all of this? The unknown possible tax hikes coming in January and some other possible worsening economic factors coming out of Europe and Asia that could affect more than just the real estate industry.
Door Stack-Drying Trick
We wanted to paint all 20 doors in the house, but where do you put them while they’re wet? By screwing short 2×4 blocks to the ends, we were able to paint both sides of each door and then stack them neatly while they dried. Just make sure to keep the same spacing between every pair of blocks.
New Path From Old Stone
I made a brand-new-looking flagstone pathway to my gazebo just by flipping over the weathered stones that were there and washing them off. The tricky part was fitting the shapes back together, but with a little finessing I managed it.
Of Tee Bolts and Toilet Bowls
When installing a toilet bowl, mark a line on the threaded ends of the tee bolts to show the orientation of the tees on the bolts’ other end, which hold the bowl to the flange on the floor. Without that mark as a guide, you could turn the bolt 90 degrees as you tighten it and pull it out of the flange, making a mess of the wax ring. Trust me: I learned this one the hard way.
Hand Protection
I reuse those long, narrow plastic bags that newspapers are delivered in as protective gloves and sleeves when spray painting and pulling weeds. They’re really good for uprooting and containing poison ivy and other stuff you shouldn’t touch with bare hands; just remove the bags by pulling them inside out.
