Source :: GlobeSt.com
Date :: October 11, 2007

By Bob Howard

	Astani's Market Plaza

INGLEWOOD, CA-Astani Enterprises of Beverly Hills has signed a disposition and development agreement with the City of Inglewood for a 50,000-sf retail center called Market Plaza Shopping Center. The Beverly Hills-based development and investment firm plans to create the new center on a 3.1-acre site at the southeast corner of La Brea Boulevard and Florence Avenue.

Inglewood awarded the disposition and development agreement to Astani almost four years after the city first issued its request for proposals for the site. Developer Shane Astani comments that the company's vision for the Art Deco shopping and entertainment center "has always been to serve as a catalyst to spur future redevelopment activity along the historic Market Street commercial corridor."

Astani points out that the parcel is strategically located in the city commercial core, adjacent to City Hall, the Los Angeles County courthouse, Kaiser Permanente hospital and a supportive professional and business community. He calls it "a unique destination center for an underserved community where everyone comes together for a good meal, a cup of coffee with a friend and general services."

Astani anticipates that Market Plaza will significantly increase day and evening pedestrian traffic throughout the Market Street corridor, thereby serving as an economic basis for additional private and public investment. He notes that roadway congestion in the Greater Los Angeles area "has served as a disincentive for residents to patronize business establishments outside of their community," which in turn has created a mandate for cities such as Inglewood to revitalize their urban core to recapture local tax dollars.