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Financing Difficulties Holding Up Venice's Pioneer Bakery Project

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Some not-great news for anyone excited about the Pioneer Bakery Building, developer Intracorp's planned 70-unit, mixed-use development at Rose and Fifth. This morning we spoke with project manager Jim Neil, who said difficulties in getting a construction loan have delayed the project. Neil echoed the frustrated-sounding sentiment we're hearing from a lot of developers these days. “There is no one lending,” said Neil. “It’s really frustrating. Unless you have your own money to put in to it, it’s nearly impossible [to build]."

This plot used to hold the original Pioneer Bakery; family members sold their place to developer Intracorp. According to an old Venice Paper article, those local residents who supported the mixed-use project "saw new retail and commercial along Rose Avenue as important community-building public space along a traffic artery on which commercial enterprise had almost died." Neil said that if market conditions improved, the project could be a "home run;" indeed, with the Whole Foods opening up around the corner, this would seem to be a pretty coveted piece of property. For now, the plot is basically just serving as a magnet for all those Venice RVs. Photos above were taken last weekend.
· Venice's Pioneer Bakery Demolished for Condos/Another Bakery [Curbed LA]
· Small Steps At Venice's Pioneer Bakery Building Site [Curbed LA]
· Venice Awaits its Pioneer Bakery Building [Curbed LA]