After decades of waiting for something big to happen, Crenshaw's Marlton Square is finally being brought back to life. As far back as 1984, there have been big plans to redevelop Marlton Square, aka Santa Barbara Plaza, into something useful to the community. But it was only just this week, says the LA Times, that Kaiser's broken ground on what will be a 100,000-square-foot medical building/community center. The $90-million center will be "anchored around healthy living," with a walking path, outdoor space for events, and a conference room that the public can use.
There have been so many false starts over the decades (developer default, lender bankruptcy, a couple of years of work stoppage beginning in 2008), but in 2011, the vacant old plaza was demolished, and in 2012, Kaiser Permanente picked up a good-sized chunk of the property (8.65 acres).
The Kaiser project, which is expected to be finished around the spring of 2017, will be a few blocks northwest of the under-construction Crenshaw Line's stop at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, though the line won't be open until 2019.
· Long-stalled Marlton Square project makes a move forward [LAT]
· Crenshaw's Marlton Square Finally Bites the Dust [Curbed LA]
· Baldwin Hills' Marlton Square Mess Finally Getting Cleaned Up [Curbed LA]