altadenablog

WAPAC to send revised motion to county (let's see if they do!)

Michele Zack, who contributed the notes about last month's meeting of the West Altadena Project Area Committee which is supervising the development of Lincoln Crossing, shares with us her public comments at last night's meeting.  The WAPAC board told the staff to send a letter to the county containing their actual motion this time, rather than something the staff made up.  Zack's comments are after the jump.

Lincoln Crossing: Staff ignores board's decision, tells county a different story

When we last looked at the soap opera/business development we call Altadena Lincoln Crossing, outgoing Altadena Town Council member Michele Zack served as the council's rep on the West Altadena Project Area Committee (WAPAC).  When Zack left the council in July, she was replaced by councilman Gene Campbell.  WAPAC passed a motion to send a letter to the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission (CDC), supporting the West Altadena Development Corporation's (WAD-C) effort to end its business marriage to partner Dorn Platz, the developer who has a laundry list of default actions, in order to continue developing Lincoln Crossing.

Well, Zack attended the July 22 meeting as Jane Citizen, and then the fun started.  She filed this report with the town council, and shared it with us, after the jump:

Altadena Town Council highlights

A long and relatively uneventful Altadena Town Council meeting tonight.  Highlights:

• A presentation by the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission on Lincoln Crossing’s history, to bring the council up to speed on the development.  Later in the meeting, outgoing councilmember Michele Zack said that HUD was conducting an investigation of Lincoln Crossing;
• A lengthy report by Sheriff Capt. Roosevelt Blow on  the recent (June 5) shooting.  Blow also said that the Altadena station was preparing for the possibility of increased gang activity.  There will be another squad car brought in to work on gang enforcement during the summer, the station received a $20,000 grant to purchase tactical equipment, and there will be increased undercover surveillance.
• It was announced that T-Mobile has withdrawn its attempt to put a cell phone tower at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church.
• It was also announced that a preliminary injunction was ordered against Sahag Mesrob Armenian Christian School, with a hearing for a permanent injunction set for September.  The preliminary injunction says that Sahag-Mesrob must cease operating at their Palm St. campus by the end of this week.
• The June 6 town council election was certified, and the new members will begin their terms at next month’s meeting.

UPDATE 6/17: Here's the county website with information on West Altadena Community Redevelopment Project Area, which encompasses LIncoln Crossing.

UPDATE #2: Michele Zack has contributed her WAPAC report, after the jump.

Lincoln Crossing on Crown City News tonight

Michele Zack sent us an email with details on Crown City News' story on our troubled shopping center:

I just confirmed with Crown City News that they will run a 25-minute special report tonight at 6 PM on Altadena Lincoln Crossing. This represents the FIRST attempt ever to give in depth coverage to this local issue of great import.

I don't know what the reporter/producer Ann Lee will come up with, I do know she has been spending a couple weeks interviewing and digging, and that she seemed very professional and capable when she interviewed me. She also had the good luck to bring her camera to the last PAC meeting, which was the first in a long time when some very interesting stuff came to light. Ray Carlilse announced his wish to divorce from Dorn Platz, and was pretty candid about why. The letter you saw/posted covered much of this, but to have someone say it out loud in public, believe me — it was historic after so much waffling and misinformation and stonewalling about the causes of delay.

The story will be on KPAS, Ch. 56 tonight.  Crown City's website also has a link to view KPAS online in real time.

UPDATE, 4:30 PM:  Those of us who are customers of ATT Uverse seem to be SOL.  Just had a long robot-call-followed-by-long-holds-followed-by-human being call with them, and they don't carry KPAS on their system.  We can get local government public access channels from Glendale, Anaheim, Stanton, San Bernardino, and other places, but not from Pasadena.  When I asked who I could talk to or write to about it, I was told they didn't know.  Cool!

County sends default notice to Lincoln Crossing

Following up from our previous story from Councilmember Michele Zack, we just received a copy of a March 26 letter (pdf document) from Corde Carillo, acting executive director of the LA County Development Commission, to Lincoln Crossing developer Dorn Platz and the West Altadena Development Corporation (WAD-C), putting them in default of their agreements with the county and listing some rather alarming details: half a million owed in taxes, more than that in varioius liens and lawsuit judgements, as well as some rather interesting-sounding deeds of trust filed.  In last week's report from Zack, WAD-C is trying to sever ties with Dorn Platz and line up a more solvent partner, but the complex agreements and interrelationships involved may make that difficult.  More for the mix.

WAD-C to Dorn Platz: it's over. County: not so fast ...

It's one step forward, two steps back for Lincoln Crossing.

With the opening of a third anchor for the shopping center (Bank of America), the development is doing well -- but one of its partners is trying to get rid of another partner, which will imperil future planned development of the site.

Altadena town councilor Michele Zack, who has been all over the many lives of Lincoln Crossing, shares with us her report at Tuesday's town council meeting.

As an addendum, Crown City News will have a feature on Lincoln Crossing on June 1 on KPAS, Ch. 56.

Zack's report follows, after the jump.

Dorn Platz in default, but Lincoln Crossing bizs thrive

Just received from town councilmember Michele Zack her report to the town council from the West Altadena Project Area Committee, where she is a council representative -- good information all!

WAPAC report to Altadena Town Council, April 21, 2009

At the WAPAC meeting of March 23, 2009, the board discussed moving forward to Phase 2 of the project. Mr. Bill Johnson, representing LA County Redevelopment Commission, reported that Developer of Phase 1 (Dorn Platz) was in default of provisions of the Disposition and Development Agreement. He stated that the time period of one year provided to “cure” the default had lapsed months ago. This explains why the project is running well over two years behind schedule. However, besides one building that has not even been started, the rest of Phase One is almost done: West Altadena now has several thriving businesses, including  Super King market, 24-hour fitness, Panda Express, Matt’s Pharmacy, and now Bill’s Chicken in the Bag to Go. Bank of America has not yet completed tenant improvements needed to open.

Mr. Ray Carlisle of Altadena Lincoln Crossing LLC reported that despite the current downturn, Altadena has the economic strength to attract investment, and that he is confident a new developer will step in as necessary. He stated emphatically we do not need to feel “grateful” for whatever developer we can get: the success at 24-Hour Fitness and Super King speaks for itself and is our best advertisement. Developers want to come here because the community has abundantly demonstrated that this is a place where money is to be made by well-run businesses offering the right goods and services.

I would like to back up his point by noting that a new supermarket is opening up on the former site of Jack’s Apple Market on Fair Oaks. Many improvements already made, including taking out the ugly fence, landscaping parking lot, and completely redoing of interior — by Ranch Market. Fresh and Easy is also looking to come here. Businesses are waking up to the fact that there are 43,000 people in Altadena, and most of us would prefer to spend our money here when we have viable shopping choices. 

Respectfully submitted,
Michele Zack

 

Lincoln Crossing ousts BJR Postal/Copy Center

Jannette Williams at PSN has a story in tomorrow's paper (it's appearing in the Contra Costa Times branch of the chain first, per the usual pattern) about the ousting of BJR Postal/Copy Center, the last of the original tenants of Lincoln Crossing.  The story says that BJR owner Bobby Thompson admits that his business income was never enough to pay full freight on the rent, and the county's subsidy payments came to an end.  Thompson says he will sue for breach of contract -- and a spokesman for developer Dorn Platz says everything is great (they always do).

More Lincoln Crossing stress

Rumors and chatter of another business being evicted from Lincoln Crossing.  We're trying to pin down facts, so any help is appreciated!

UPDATE 2/18 9:30 AM:  Sierra Madre Tattler blog sends us an email that they're on it -- but "on it" means they just published one of the same emails we received, and their piece is closer to an opinion piece than a news piece (altho' we're not doubting any of the facts presented, we need a little more first-hand proof to go ahead).  We CAN tell you that Bobby Thompson of BJR Printing has confirmed to us in an email that he's being evicted by LIncoln Crossing developer Dorn Platz, and isn't happy about his experience with them.  We're trying to connect with Thompson for an interview and get a first hand report.

Super King open at Lincoln Crossing

We've been meaning to get to this for awhile, but the Super King Market has opened in Lincoln Crossing where Farm Fresh was recently closed down (and we're not getting into that kettle of fish right now -- just put "Farm Fresh" in our search engine to the left and see for yourself).  It had a "soft opening" last Friday, and early reviews are very good.  

Lincoln Crossing woes spark group action

The Altadena Community Coalition -- a group of mostly aggrieved Lincoln Crossing tenants -- called a town meeting Friday that was various parts therapy session, conspiracy theorizing, denunciation of various parties (not the least of whom were Supv. Mike Antonovich and developer Dorn Platz), and history lesson.  It ended with a Frank Capraesque call for collective action and pledges of financial support.

The meeting was led by former Lincoln Crossing tenants Par Aria of Farm Fresh Market, Helga Kuhn of Bessie's Daughter's Soulful Tacos, and present tenant Bobby Thompson of BJR Postal Copy Center (pictured).  Each of them had a story about how they started with high hopes only to see them shattered by broken promises and undelivered services by Dorn Platz.

As the meeting had no agenda, it was quite unstructured and uncontrolled at times, and topics veered off in many directions. The tide turned after Pasadena attorney Philip Koebel decried the "victimization" talk, urging them to hire an attorney who knows the community and take the issues to court. Laura Graham of Altadena suggested that there was enough interest in the room that they could start action with what they have, and Ishmael Trone, co-chair of Pasadena's Fair Oaks Project Area Committee gave an impassioned plea to commit to organize and collect money to begin.

At the end of the meeting, many pledged $100 or more apiece to fund the Coalition, and Kuhn said that the next meeting would be in a west Altadena location early next week.

The mailing address for the Altadena Community Coalition is 2230 Lincoln Ave., Box 300, Altadena 91001.

Lincoln Crossing tenants vent

PSN's Robert Hong interviews the disgruntled tenants of Lincoln Crossing today.  (We've included the link, but haven't been able to call up the story this morning -- some problem with PSN's server).

UPDATE 10 PM: We're back home, read the paper in hard copy, PSN's server is working, and we think this is the nut graf(s)

Some owners and would-be owners of small businesses at Lincoln Crossing want to air their grievances, and will hold a Town Hall meeting on Sept. 12 to discuss issues surrounding the project and why their businesses went under ...

The meeting with the Altadena Coalition will be held at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Altadena Community Center, 780 E. Altadena Drive.

"Altadena Coalition" is a new player in the game -- should be an interesting event!

UPDATE 8/30: One of our readers pointed out that the address as given for the community center in the PSN story is incorrect -- it's actually 730 E. Altadena Dr.  780 is the sheriff's station -- probably not the site of the meeting, but you never know ...

And yet MORE on Farm Fresh

Par Aria, owner of Farm Fresh Market, weighs in at Crown City News with a lengthy, detailed letter on the problems there.

Farm Fresh Market pot stirs some more

Crown City News prints a missive from former town councilman Steve Lamb, giving yet another iteration of the story behind the closure of Farm Fresh Market.  (Printing single-party background information from one informant who's not big on attribution generally isn't the smartest journalism, but who are we to tell CCN how to run their business? Especially since we think their blogroll is jammin'!) More food for thought.

8/17 update: He talks about it yet again (with NSFW language) in this post in his "Altadena Iconoclast" blog.

More on Farm Fresh closing

Altadenablog reader Nicole Moore points out this story, which gives more flesh to the closing of the Farm Fresh Market. Credit to Beacon Media News' Terry Miller.

Farm Fresh Market closed

Farm Fresh Market at Lincoln Crossing, the only supermarket worthy of the name on the west side, has closed down.  According to the security guards who are keeping people out, it already has new owners and will re-open in two or three weeks, but they were a little vague on the details.

Lincoln Crossing: shiny or bumpy (depends on who's talking)

PSN front-pages Lincoln Crossing today -- all agree that it's been a rough birthing, but the future depends on who's talking.  Greg Galletly, president of Dorn Platz, is talking about getting better tenants than the departed or departing Farm Fresh Market and Bessie's Daughters Soulful Tacos, and paints a bright future.  But Bessie's Helga Kuhn, BJR Postal/Copy Center's Bobby Thompson,  and other tenants have another take on the matter.  Then there's the requested grand jury investigation.  All told, a fair story to all involved.  Check it out.

Town council looks at own ethics, calls for grand jury for Lincoln Xing

Story #1: The Altadena Town Council spent a considerable time at last night's meeting discussing potential ethical conflicts: particularly, some councilmembers have contracts with Pasadena Unified School District.  Most pointedly: councilmember Keith "Sarge" Gibbs, who is chair of the council's Education Committee and runs training, intervention, and leadership programs at Blair.  Chairman George Lewis said that there had been numerous complaints about Gibbs requesting money for his programs.  (Gibbs was not at the meeting).  Councilmember Michele Zack (who was also absent) was also named as having a contract with the district.

Lewis said he was going to appoint an ethics committee to look into the matter and come up with rules.  In a related issue, several councilmembers had also been listed as endorsing State Assemblyman Anthony Portantino - which they can't do as councilmembers -- but averred that they were endorsing him as individuals, and their titles were used without their knowledge or permission.

Top Story #2: The council approved sending a letter to Supervisor Antonovich requesting that a county grand jury investigate the conduct of Los Angeles County Community Development Commission (CDC), the Los Angeles County Building and Safety department and the developer of Lincoln Crossing.

The decision came after Parviz Aria of Farm Fresh Ranch Market told a long tale of woe about his company's dealings with Lincoln Crossing -- complaints of substandard construction, delays, lawsuits from the developers, etc.  Aria said that his company had invested close to $10 million in the supermarket, and they were going to the court of appeal on June 30 to fight an eviction notice from the developer for nonpayment of rent (because they had to legally pay contractors that the developer had not paid). 

(A condensed version of the whole Lincoln Crossing story went up today on councilmember Steve Lamb's blog.)

Farm Fresh Ranch Market staying put

Got a couple of messages regarding a rumor that the Farm Fresh Ranch Market at Lincoln Crossing was closing down.  According to Lety, the office manager there, it's not true -- they're staying put, despite Lincoln Crossing's troubles.

Assorted town council stuff

Also at last night's council meeting:

• The council voted to send a letter to the county, following the recommendations of the Land Use Committee, denying approval of a cell phone tower at St. Elizabeth's Church and School.
• Councilmember Michele Zack reported that the members of the West Altadena Project Area Committee were stunned to find that the developer of Lincoln Crossing had put all or part of the development on the market, apparently in violation of agreements.  The developer has also been trying to get refinancing on the project.  "More questions than answers" is how Zack characterized developments.
• Zack also reported that the pocket park on Marengo is now faced with arroyo stone, which greatly improved its appearance, but still needs work.  Anyone needing more information should contact her at michelezack@mac.com

Lincoln Xing: the saga continues

PSN reports that Altadena Lincoln Crossing LLC must pony up $1.1 million in unpaid management fees to subcontractor Swinerton Builders, Inc.  Altadena Lincoln Crossing is owned by site owner Dorn Platz.  The crushing quote:

Altadena Town Councilman Bobby Thompson, who owns BJR Postal/Copy Center at Lincoln Crossing, said he would sue Dorn Platz, too, if all his problems with them hadn't sapped him of the money necessary to retain an attorney.

Nevertheless, he said he wasn't happy to hear ALC had lost the lawsuit.

"The lawsuit means they're just continuing to run out of money," Thompson said. "I just can't give anymore energy, positive or negative, to Dorn Platz. I focus on my business."

Judge says Lincoln Xng owes contractor

The latest news about our troubled shopping center says that a Superior Court judge has ordered Lincoln Crossing LLC (jointly owned by Dorn Platz and West Altadena Development Corp.) to pay its concrete contractor $311,000 owed on the project.  In addition, the judge upholds a lien against the property, meaning the owners may have to sell it to pay off GBC Concrete and Masonry Construction, the aggrieved contractor.  Star-News has the bullet (about halfway down the page).

Lincoln Xing minority partner gets an earful

Lincoln Crossing minority partner (20%) Ray Carlisle got an earful from his tenants at Monday's county meeting regarding the troubled project.  Leaks and flooding, sewage odors, and a rent increase with a cherry on top.  Bad news is plentiful -- Bessie's Daughter's Soulful Tacos, an Altadenablog favorite, is shutting down, at least temporarily, because of the odor problem, and Farm Fresh is suing Dorn Platz, the 80% partner, over rent increases.  Oh, yes, and Acacia St. has to be torn up because the sewer line failed inspection.  According to the story, Carlisle seemed reasonable -- after all, he's got a lot invested in this, and he wants it to succeed -- but Supv. Antonovich's rep says that the Dorn Platz problems don't rise to the level of "significant misdeeds" that would cause the county to take it over.  Pasadena Now has all the deets.

A lemon or lemonade?

Another recent   PSN article on Lincoln Crossing airs out the differences between those (including county planning commission members) who call the project a "lemon," and those (including Supv. Antonovich) who say it's merely growing pains.

Shaping up the 'hood

PSN has an article about the positive effect that Magic Johnson 24-hour Fitness has had on the Lincoln/Woodbury area.  The fitness center anchors the Lincoln Crossing development, and is very busy, also drawing traffic to the other businesses in the center.

Lincoln Crossing parking reduced, Town Council has spat

Altadenablog is catching up after the holidays:

PSN tells the tale of the Lincoln Crossing Project Area Committee and Town Council both voting to lop off 1/7th of Lincoln Crossing's parking.  Developer Dorn Platz is looking at valet "scrunch" parking for peak hours at the Magic Johnson 24 Hour Fitness.  A shouting match erupts at the Town Council meeting over who will be their representative to the Project Area Committee: local councilman Gene Campbell or Michele Zack, who's been to the PAC meetings.  Winner: Zack.

Lincoln Crossing in the news again

Just in front of the ever-important ads for outcall massage and dating services, the Pasadena Weekly has a good article this week on Lincoln Crossing's woes: 

Due to multiple delays by Dorn Platz & Co., a shoe store never got off the ground. Brio Spa has not opened yet and is being bogged down by fees and orders to make renovations, despite the fact they still have a dirt floor. A Subway sandwich shop, one of the cornerstones of the project, is threatening to pull out altogether after promises for parking fell through.

The story talks about the frustration of the business owners and West Altadena residents who were hoping for this development to turn around their community:

Meanwhile, West Altadena residents have been waiting nearly three decades for redevelopment of that portion of the community, which has been plagued by crime, rundown storefronts, old church buildings and an excessive number of liquor stores. “This is the side of town we need to build up,” Thompson said. “Instead, Dorn Platz is tearing it down even more because they are killing people’s dreams.

We're down with that, particularly the part about the community being "plagued by ... old church buildings."

"Ring the Register" At Lincoln Crossing Today

On Friday, November 16, 2007, 9 AM to 8 PM, a “Ring The Register” event will be held in support of two local businesses: BJR Postal/Copy Center and Bessie’s Daughter’s Soulful Tacos, both located in the new Altadena Lincoln Crossing development, on Lincoln Avenue, just north of Woodbury Road.  This event encourages community residents and companies to support these small businesses by making a purchase or stopping in learn more about their respective services and menu offerings.  Both businesses will offer special introductory savings for customers. For more information about this event, call  Bessie’s Daughter’s Soulful Tacos at (626) 798-2344 or BJR Postal / Copy Center at (626) 296-3400.  This event is organized by the San Gabriel Valley Black Business Association, in cooperation with the SGV Black Chamber of Commerce. 

“’Ring The Register’ events help support small businesses which may not have the big advertising budgets to compete with larger businesses,” says the SGV Black Business Association’s Roscoe Lee Owens. “Sometimes people are not aware of new outstanding businesses in their neighborhood.  So, we’re working creatively to let the community know about these two businesses  and give people an opportunity to show their support.”

The San Gabriel Valley Black Business Association was established in 1997 and is committed to providing a broad variety of member services designed to assist in building and promoting local businesses.

P.S.  Altadenablog was so intrigued by this notice, and so hungry, he and Spawn 3 went to Bessie's Daughters to pick up lunch.  Heartily recommend the Bessie's Taco with beef -- best thing we had all day! Looked like they were doing good business, too!

More bankruptcy woes: Lincoln Crossing

It's potential bankruptcy day here on Altadenablog!

The Lincoln Crossing development at Lincoln and Woodbury is also in deep trouble, according to PSN reports.  The developer, Dorn Platz, just got hammered with a default notice from Los Angeles County, claiming that Dorn Platz has gathered a collection of attachments and creditor actions and "the potential exists for a judicial foreclosure action against the property." 

Right now, residential tenants at the development are paying rent into a Sheriff's Department fund as part of a lawsuit brought by a concrete contractor who claimed they weren't getting paid by Dorn Platz.  Dorn Platz has 30 days to respond to the county's notice.  This is in addition to the developer's latest woes with Ambassador West.  Stay tuned.