This business site, which formerly housed Roberts department store, may soon be the location of a new Marshalls store.
BY NICK DIAMANTIDES
Staff Writer
The long vacant Roberts department store building is still standing, but demolition could begin within a month or so. For more than four years, Long Beach city officials and the owners of the Bixby Knolls Shopping Center have been working with executives of Marshalls’ parent company— Massachusetts-based TJX— to replace the old Roberts building with a new Marshalls.
“Things are taking a little longer than anticipated, but we still plan to open a store there next year,” said Thea Houghton, TJX spokesperson. A few months ago, Houghton said she expected the Bixby Knolls Marshalls to open by August 2009, but on Monday she said it could be September or later. “We signed the lease a few months ago, and are just waiting for the shopping center’s owners to demolish the existing building and have a new one constructed,” she said.
The center is owned by Glendale-based GGF, LLC and managed by Gaska, Inc., also based in Glendale. (The same principals own both companies.)
Seda Aghanian, vice president of Gaska said: “I think in the next two weeks we are submitting our plans for plan check and in the next day or so we are going to submit our demolition permit, and we are very close to getting our water line relocation permit. So hopefully all this will come together in the next month or so we can start construction.”
Eighth District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, who has been involved in city discussions with Gaska and TJX for several years, noted that, at a recent meeting she attended, GASKA officials said they expected to submit building plans to the city’s planning department soon.
According to the councilwoman, however, the building plans should have been submitted months ago. “It’s very delinquent and I don’t understand why Gaska is having problems with this project,” she said. Gabelich admitted she was a little frustrated by the delay but still optimistic that a Marshalls would open in Bixby Knolls in the not-too-distant future. She said the decline of retail sales nationally might be causing Gaska to move forward slowly. “I think there is some fear attached, but they did contract out for the architect,” she said. “So they made a commitment there.”
Aghanian insisted that Gaska was not hesitant in investing money in the project during the present economic downturn. “For this project, we already have our tenant,” she said. “Almost 90 percent of the building we are constructing is pre-leased. We have a couple of small stores next to it, but we are not worried that we don’t have tenants for those yet. Marshalls is still very strong so we are not reluctant to start construction.”
She said she could not speculate on when Marshalls may open. “It’s hard to come up with a date,” she said. “I have been told that a project of that size can take nine to 12 months to complete, but we will just have to see.”
Gabelich explained that demolition must take place very close to the time that construction of the new store begins because the Roberts building has a basement and leaving a gaping hole in the ground would pose a public safety hazard.
The construction of Marshalls is the biggest part of a renovation project planned for Bixby Knolls Shopping Center. Plans include the demolition of 52,000 square feet of existing retail space and the construction of 42,800 square feet of space to house Marshalls as well as some smaller retail shops. A 5,000-square-foot retail/restaurant pad is proposed for the southern end of the campus, and the exterior façade on the shopping center’s eastern side will be remodeled.
A few months ago, the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (RDA) agreed to loan $3.7 million to GGF for the demolition/construction project. The agency will also reimburse GGF for 50 percent of the façade improvement up to $500,000.
Gabelich said that the RDA also plans to put up a “Coming Soon: Marshall’s Department Store” sign in the Bixby Knolls Shopping Center as soon as Gaska provides the agency with an artist’s rendering of the planned new building.
Marshalls operates stores throughout the United States and specializes in purchasing large quantities of merchandise at reduced prices from designers and manufacturers that are overstocked. Those low prices are then passed on to shoppers.
“We have been waiting for some more retail in the Bixby Knolls area, and we hope that Marshalls is still an interested player and that we have the support of the Gaskas to revitalize that entire area,” Gabelich said.
