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| Cold Stone Creamery is the only location open at The Lakes' 1.1 acre site built for exclusively for food retailers |
WEST COVINA – Josue Macias, 20, and Melissa Sanchez, 16, sat among empty tables and chairs on Monday afternoon eating ice cream at The Lakes, a retail center located next to the 10 freeway off of Lakes Drive and Vincent Avenue. They visit this location to buy ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery, the only remaining food business in the complex, two times a week and have both noticed the decline in people that visit the site in the past few years.
“It looks
nice. It’s just empty, like a deserted old western town,” Macias said.
The West
Covina residents still remember when other major food chains and restaurants,
such as Macaroni Grill, Fatburger, Juice It Up! and Rubio’s, called The Lakes retail
center their home a few years ago. The Edwards Cinema 18 movie theater the
plaza encompasses is still there today since it opened in 1997. However, all
other major food chains have all packed up and left for other pastures since
first opening in the early 2000s.
Some businesses,
such as Best Buy once located just outside of the main plaza, have moved across
the street into the West Covina mall where there is more visibility from the
freeway. Others, such as the city’s only Barnes and Noble location, closed in late
2010 for good.
West Covina
Community Development Commission Assistant Director Mike Lee said the site’s
previous owner, Hillcrest Lakes Associates, L.P, lost the property to Banc of
America Commercial Mortage Inc. almost two years ago. Since then, the bank has
hired CB Richard Ellis real estate agents to re-tenant the property.
Christopher Chung,
Director of the West Covina Community Development Commission,
said, based
off of market feedback, one problem why the retail spaces are not selling could
be because the bank may be asking too much for the property. Only counting the
restaurants’ 1.1 acre site, Chung said the 23,712 square-foot property, has a total
value estimated at $8.4 million.
“They don’t
want a huge loss, but they are taking losses monthly by holding on to it,
versus cutting their losses and getting out of it,” Chung said.
Chung said it
could be perspective of the potential tenants, and what their offering could be
low in the market already. Lee also said tenants who have the option of
occupying The Lakes also prefer to move to West Covina’s bigger retail
locations, such as the mall or Eastland Shopping Center, due to their better
location, traffic and freeway visibility.
Redevelopment
agencies such as CDC have assisted in improving other retail locations in West
Covina in the past, but since February the commission has not been receiving
enough funds to assist businesses through the redevelopment process, Lee said.
“We’ve been
working with the various property owners for at least 7 or 8 years trying to
get the place re-tenanted,” Lee said about The Lakes.
Lee also
mentioned that with the state passing AB 26 X and AB 27 in 2011, future
projects and redevelopments are going to be very difficult to pursue now that
they don’t have enough funding and staff.
Lee said the
city was able to rebuild the West Covina mall, Eastland Shopping Center and
West Covina Sportsplex with redevelopment money in the past few years. However,
Lee said businesses in West Covina, including the ones that are finished being redeveloped,
could be affected eventually due to commission’s budget cuts.
“We won’t have
the ability to do those types of projects anymore,” Lee said.
Across the
street from The Lakes is a strip retail space located on Glendora Avenue. Dully
painted lampposts and old, dusty storefronts make the shops in this plaza look
like they need a facelift to bring them into modern times. However, though the
stores themselves were built long before The Lakes, the businesses there are
still thriving.
Lee said
they have been able to survive because rent is much cheaper.
“It’s
obvious that business owners are making enough money to stay open, versus what’s
happening at the Lakes, but a lot of them are small mom and pop businesses which
can really only afford cheaper rent,” Lee said.
As far as
the future of The Lakes, Chung said tenants are eventually going to move in, but
the bank is going to have to give some concessions in order for that to happen.
“They are
playing craps thinking they are going to win in the very end,” he said.
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| One of the entrances to The Lakes center, which has "For Lease" signs on almost all of its retail spaces |
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| Commercial spaces at The Lakes all available for lease |
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| Signs of restaurants that were once operating at The Lakes but are now closed |
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