Monterey Park is on the verge of getting its first major retail development, bringing new shopping alternatives to area residents and an estimated 35 percent bump in the city’s sales tax base.
Ezralow Retail Properties, after spending more than two years and $5 million on its attempt to redevelop the retail center atop a former municipal landfill, is expecting to close escrow late this week on its purchase of the 45-acre site.
“Honestly? I can tell you now, had I known how difficult it would be, I would have walked away,” said Douglas Gray, president of Ezralow.
It’s been pretty tough from the beginning. While the planned 512,000-square-foot Monterey Park Marketplace is already 98 percent pre-leased, at annual rents ranging from $15 to $28 per foot, Gray said that Ezralow had sunk more than $1 million into the project before a single tenant was on board. Among those that have signed on are Best Buy, Home Depot, Krispy Kreme, Staples and Target.
Gray said that once Ezralow closes escrow, construction will be fast-tracked and the center should be open by the end of August.
The project site sits directly across the Pomona (60) Freeway from the former Operating Industries Inc. landfill, which, though inactive since 1984, is still listed as a federal Superfund site. While the municipal landfill on which Monterey Park Marketplace is being developed is not part of the OII Superfund site, it too is listed as a Superfund site and federal approval was needed before development could begin.
Gray said that Ezralow is required to cap the municipal landfill and install a gas-collection system before building a Home Depot on top of it.
Besides providing residents with shopping opportunities, the center is also being seen as a boon to city coffers. City Manager Chris Jeffers said the proposed $80 million development would produce $500,000 a year in property taxes. Further, Jeffers said, the center would generate another $1 million to $1.2 million in sales taxes to the city, a 35 percent increase over current levels. That would mean an increase of 8 percent to the city’s $22 million general fund.
Even with all the headaches that come with trying to negotiate with the federal government, local governments and multiple site owners, Gray said that Monterey Park Marketplace will ultimately be worth it.
“It’s not as fat as a normal development deal, and I admit that,” he said. “I like projects that other people have trouble making work. It gives me a sense of accomplishment.”
