http://la.streetsblog.org/2014/11/07/dupont-walker-community-press-metro-on-surprising-changes-slated-for-mariachi-plaza-demand-more-outreach/
By Sahra Sulaiman, November 7, 2014
How can we ensure stakeholder input has value and is incorporated
into planning? And, in so doing, help the community feel comfortable in
trusting Metro to make sure that happens?
The queries, posed by Metro Board Member Jacqueline Dupont-Walker to
Metro CEO Art Leahy during Tuesday’s Planning Committee meeting were in
response to Boyle Heights residents’ complaints that Metro had failed to
seek adequate community input on a potential development at Mariachi
Plaza that would fundamentally transform the area.
She was right to ask.
Despite promises made in 2012 that, “
prior
to seeking Metro Board approval [for projects at Mariachi Plaza and
other area sites], staff will be conducting a meeting to update the
community regarding th[ese] development site[s],” no notice seems to
have been given — either to the community or the advisory committee for
the Eastside Access project — about Tuesday’s
motion to allow Metro to enter into an 18-month Exclusive Negotiation Agreement and Planning Document (ENA) with
Primestor Development.
An ENA grants Primestor — one of four applicants who submitted proposals for
Metro’s RFP
to develop the Mariachi Plaza parcels — the space to further develop
their plans, work out the terms of a Joint Development Agreement (JDA),
work out ground leases with Metro, and pull together the appropriate
construction documents.
According to Metro, Primestor won out over the other applicants
because of their track record with financing, commitment to job
creation,
“well-conceived proposal,” “attractive, transit-oriented design,” and expanded development footprint, made possible by their decision to “partner” with a neighboring property owner.

The expanded footprint of the plaza project. The green represents private property Primestor would acquire. Source: Metro
Specifically, that means that the buildings now housing J&F Ice Cream, Santa Cecilia restaurant, and
Libros Schmibros
(in green, above) will be turned into “retail and commercial office
space that could provide a combination of food and beverage retail
opportunities [and] a fitness center.”
The vacant lot at Bailey (the grey square below, at right) will be
converted into an 8-story office building with 6 floors (528 spaces) of
parking and 2 floors of medical offices, helping address the spillover
demand for medical services from White Memorial Hospital (which sits
across the street from the lot).
Together, the two buildings would provide 120,570 square feet of commercial space and be called “La Plaza del Mariachi.”

Mariachi
Plaza, is that you? An 8-story structure at Bailey (the grey square)
will boast 6 floors of parking and 2 of medical offices. A 3-story
fitness center and retail space could crowd the western end of the
plaza. (Source: Metro presentation)
If that design comes as a surprise to you, either because of the
notion that six stories’ worth of parking falls under the definition of
“transit-oriented design,” because retail space appears to be built
on the plaza itself,
or because the murals that speak to the culture and history of the area
and help define the space would be forever lost, you are not alone.
When Metro held meetings on the future plans for several properties along the Gold Line corridor in
December of 2012 (see background
here) and
February of 2013, much of the community’s attention had been focused on
fighting A Community of Friends’ (ACOF) plan
to put affordable housing at 1st and Lorena. Residents believed they
had been promised a pocket park there by Metro and objected to the added
congestion and chaos 53 units could invite into the area.

Proposed development sites/Metro-owned properties in Boyle Heights. Source: Metro
Discussions about what to do with the Mariachi Plaza parcels were notably absent.
“That’s what was amazing tonight,” Greg Angelo, Metro’s Director of Real Property Management and Development
had told SBLA writer Kris Fortin after the December 2012 meeting,
“The bulk of the conversation was about [the] Lorena [and 1st site].
And nobody said anything about Mariachi [Plaza], which shocked me.”
My best guess for why that might have been the case was that the
plans being tossed around at the time were quite vague and did not have
anywhere near the scope (or footprint) that they appear to have now.
Behold:

How Metro presented plans for Mariachi Plaza to the community in early 2013. Source: Metro
Even as of January, 2013, the footprint seen above indicated only the
plaza, the Bailey lot, and the small parcel across from the plaza as
being eyed for development. (Not pictured is the
southwest corner of 1st and Boyle, where Metro has planned ~80 one-, two-, and three-bedroom affordable units and ~4000 square feet of retail space.)
The Conceptual Development Guidelines Metro set forth for the Mariachi Plaza parcels
were oriented toward promoting transit use, enhancing and maintaining
the existing residential neighborhood, creating a sense of place,
providing a secure environment, providing spaces for the community to
come together, and supporting the goal of the community to make the area
a cultural hub.
The poster board presented at that meeting (above) described the
potential for the spaces to be turned into a mixed-use project combining
housing and retail and/or having a use compatible with the plaza and
the neighborhood.
Not a massive parking structure.
And not a plan that included the razing of buildings that are home to
both businesses and murals which reflect the culture and character of
the community, including Juan Solis’ 1994 mural,
Castellanos (which can be found on the west side of the bldg. pictured below).

The
J&F Ice Cream Shop at Mariachi Plaza. The inside also has a lovely
mural depicting some of their family members.
Such a massive transformation of the space into something that no one
seemed to have been asking for had residents worried Tuesday.
Arturo Ramirez, a mariachi musician who finds work at the plaza and
relaxes there with other musicians after gigs, told Metro in Spanish
that he feared they would lose the small businesses that had always
supported the mariachis. Worse still, he was afraid it would change the
character of community altogether.
The plaza is a center of community where neighbors can come
together…the developments would take away that vision of the plaza and
its culture, Ramirez said.
We are not in agreement with the
destruction of the culture…The mariachis are integral to the plaza and
we want to continue to be a part of it…It gets its name from us.
Carlos Ortez, whose restaurant
Un Solo Sol
stands directly across the street from Mariachi Plaza, asked that any
businesses displaced by the development of the area be assisted both
during the construction period and with setting up shop in the new site
or in a comparable site nearby.
“We represent the community, historically, for over 50 years or
more,” he said describing the long ties many of the owners have to the
area and the relationships they’ve built up with the community. “It
would be very shameful to destroy [all] that.
”
And being forced to move or pay a higher rent in a new site could be a
terrible blow to a small business like J&F Ice Cream. Owner and
long-time resident Minerva Villa had chosen to set up shop at the plaza
just as the Gold Line opened five years ago, anticipating a massive
influx of customers that never really came. When her husband lost a
fingertip in a workplace incident three years ago and was subsequently
fired from his job, making the business work took on a new urgency.
“
My life, my home now depend on this business,” she told me once, while describing the rhythm of the 13-hour days she works, six days a week.
Other residents commenting on the plans questioned the need for six stories’ worth of parking.
“Who is it for?” they wanted to know.
There wasn’t going to be any housing attached to the project, and the parking “
rascacielos” (skyscraper),
as one commenter called it, wouldn’t necessarily be for the public (a
long-standing request of local business owners). It thus appeared to
some of the speakers that it was a ploy to bring in “outsiders” while
effectively dismantling the most important cultural symbol and gathering
place in the community.
“Please develop a community advisory board so that we can be
informed,” said Teresa Marquez, president of the Boyle Heights
stakeholders association and long-time community member. “Think about
us.”

La
Abuelita de Boyle Heights is not pleased by the idea of an 8-story
parking structure at Mariachi Plaza.
“We
are thinking about you,” seemed to be the message that
Vanessa Delgado, the Director of Development at Primestor, wanted to
convey to the residents.
Saying she had been born at White Memorial and gone to school in
Boyle Heights, she reiterated the commitment of Primestor — a developer
with extensive experience working in lower-income Latino communities —
to finding ways to foster small business development and give qualifying
non-profits or entrepreneurs spaces in the new sites.
They had done it in six past projects, she said, and she understood
the importance of bringing hundreds of jobs into the community.
Moreover, they hoped that their design of the space would provide a
kind of “amphitheater, protecting and enhancing the plaza,” creating
even more space for the mariachis. Although how exactly this was
supposed to happen was not made clear.
Jenna Hornstock, Deputy Executive Officer of Countywide Planning and
Development at Metro, who gave brief presentations about the Mariachi
Plaza project and plans for 2 other sites, spoke favorably about
Primestor’s plans. But, she said, Metro felt that 528 parking spaces was
excessive.
Primestor had anticipated that 140 of those spaces would be handed
over for use by Metro (at a cost of $3 million). For its part, Metro
didn’t want them and asked that Primestor work on downsizing its parking
plans accordingly.

The timeline over which proposals were submitted and approved for the Mariachi Plaza project. Source: Metro
Hornstock also said that they hadn’t done much in the way of outreach
prior to the Planning Committee meeting because they had been in a
“blackout” period until very recently, reviewing proposals and
interviewing prospective developers (above). But that they had
apparently shared the plans for the plaza with 18 people prior to the
meeting and would work diligently to form an advisory group going
forward.
CEO Leahy went on to reassure both Dupont-Walker — who was asking
more questions about community engagement — and those present that there
would be extensive community outreach and an intensive design charrette
process for the project. Saying that they were committed as a staff to
making that happen (and also that they really had no choice, as the
projects were joint developments and they would therefore have to follow
city planning dept. procedures), Leahy asked that people give Metro a
chance to prove they would do this one right.
Seemingly unconvinced, Dupont-Walker pressed him on the matter of
small business displacement, asking whether there was a willingness to
help protect and support small businesses in the area, too.
“There has not been a policy to include [disadvantaged businesses]
and small business aid in our projects,” he said finally, trailing off
into an awkward silence.
Concerns aside, the motion to grant Primestor an ENA was approved.

Mariachi
Plaza serves as an important gathering space for the community. Here,
students participate in discussions about displacement at the Activarte event this past September.
Affordable Housing Projects: Cesar Chavez/Soto, 1st/Soto, 1st/Lorena
The other projects up for approval were
somewhat less controversial, both because affordable housing is in high
demand in Boyle Heights and because the interested parties had brought
supporters to stand up and call for more affordable housing at the
meeting.
Comments on these projects were therefore
more geared toward making sure local people would have access to the
housing, that it would be truly affordable, that small businesses would
be protected, that new businesses would be things the community needed
(theaters, healthy markets, etc.), and that adequate parking would be
provided (even at Metro station projects) so that surrounding
residential streets didn’t get overly impacted by the increased density.

The development planned for Cesar Chavez/Soto. Source: Metro
The development at Cesar Chavez and Soto
(above), to be built as part of a JDA between Metro and Abode
Communities, will have 77 family-oriented units (54 2-bedroom/1-bath
units and 23 3-bedroom/2-bath units) and 8000 sq. ft. of commercial
space divvied up between two four-story buildings that will be connected
by a skybridge. Another Metro-owned parcel across the street (in light
yellow, at right) is slated to be the home to a new grocery store. (See
more specifics
here and
here).

Rendering of the final product at Cesar Chavez and Soto. Source: Metro
The development at 1st and Soto (below)
will include two buildings and be a joint project between the East L.A.
Community Corporation (ELACC) and Bridge Housing Corporation. The
developments will be joining a third affordable housing project on the
block currently being built by ELACC (listed below as “not a Metro
project”).

The two yellow sites south of 1st St. are slated for affordable and senior housing. Source:
Metro
The building adjacent to the Metro station will feature 49 affordable
units in a 4-6 story structure with 12,500 sq. ft. of commercial space.
The building across the street from the plaza will house seniors in a
two-story structure with 39 units and 3900 sq. ft. of commercial space
(more about the projects can be found
here and
here).

Affordable housing at the Soto station. Source:
Metro.
Rendering of senior housing planned for 1st and Soto. Source: Metro
Both motions to grant ENAs on these projects were approved easily.
The last of the housing motions — to grant the
request for an extension of ACOF’s ENA
at the 1st and Lorena site — generated much more discussion, including a
heated exchange between the committee members and an agitated young
woman.
The project has long been controversial for a number of reasons,
one of many being the fear that ACOF had not planned to have the proper
resources and safeguards on site to assist the “special needs”
residents (the mentally ill, chronically homeless, etc.) they hoped to
house there.

The proposed Lorena Plaza development.
But there were other reasons, too.
Councilmember Jose Huizar’s office opposed it once again, directing
Planning Deputy Kevin Ocubillo to cite ACOF’s previous changes to the
plans (reducing retail space from 6000 to 5000 sq. ft. and eliminating
some parking while adding 10 housing units) as failing to adequately
address the community’s housing or economic development needs.
Residents, still hoping for a park instead, cited the congestion on
the weekends — the site sits next to El Mercadito — and argued adequate
parking was key to minimizing the impact on the community.
CEO Dora Leong Gallo acknowledged they had struggled to get the
ratios right, explaining that a change in the constraints on the site
had forced them to adjust their plans. And that they hoped to be able to
offer up to 10,000 sq. ft. of commercial space and 49 units, with some
of those being specifically reserved for homeless veterans instead of a
wider range of people with special needs.
They would hold another meeting to talk with the community if they got the extension, she promised.
They got it.

The
proposed Lorena Plaza apartments would sit at the corner of 1st and
Lorena, next to el Mercado de Los Angeles.
So what’s next?
During her presentation, the Primestor representative seemed to
indicate that community meetings on the Mariachi Plaza design would be
held sooner rather than later. No dates were given, but I’ll be sure to
post that information here when it is made public.