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By the end of August, Trader Joe’s will stand alone in the Movietown Plaza in West Hollywood, as every other shop in the center received letters this past week from owner Casden Properties LLC to vacate in preparation for a new development. In place of small shops and a parking lot, Casden plans to transform the plaza into a mixed-use retail and housing complex.

Tenants at the Movietown Plaza will have to move to make way for a new mixed-use development (photo by Tim Posada)

With two 10-story buildings in the back and two mid-size buildings in the front, the new development will feature 76 affordable housing units, 294 condominiums, on-site parking, recreational facilities, and 32,300 square feet of retail space.

According to Brian Lewis, media relations director of Marathon Communications Inc. and spokesperson for Casden, the project has been in the works for more than two years and was approved by the West Hollywood City Council in February. Following another city council meeting on June 21, $75 million in tax-exempt state bonds were issued for the project to support the low-income housing. After Casden received the financial support, the landowners informed tenants they had to vacate.

Come September, phase one of construction will begin on the front of the plaza, allowing Trader Joe’s to remain open until its new location at the property is complete. Besides Trader Joe’s, no other current businesses will remain, and no new ones have been added.

According to David DeGrazia, a West Hollywood senior planner, the city’s Planning Commission disapproved of the project for various reasons — two major problems were height and density — but city council later approved the plan. Several business owners in the plaza remain critical for more personal reasons: a lack of advanced notice to vacate. Rao Batchu, owner of The Bombay Grill at the Movietown Plaza, is worried about the future of his restaurant.

“I have catering orders booked until October, what am I going to do?” Batchu said. “We’re not mad about having to move, we’re mad at the lack of time.”

The Bombay Grill will close its doors after 23 years of service at the Movietown Plaza. According to Batchu, The Bombay Grill had a consistent customer base through word-of-mouth advertising and offered catering in places like Palm Springs, Happy Valley and Las Vegas.

A rendering shows how the Movietown Plaza project will look once it is completed. (photo courtesy of Casden Properties)

Even before the notice to move was issued, Batchu’s son, Sree, sent a letter to Casden, expressing concern for the local stores. After Sree wrote the letter, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa honored the restaurant owner’s son, and a photo of the two currently hangs on the restaurant wall.

“My parents live in this shop, they thought that the store could be passed on to me, then my child, then his child,” said Sree in his letter to Casden. “But now it will be condos and stores. I hope that you can find it in your heart to do something for us. Now it is all up to you.”

Lewis stated that it was necessary for tenants to move by August 31 in order to prepare the property for development a soon as possible, adding that the businesses leased on a month-by-month basis.

“This project has been planned for some time and they knew this day would come,” Lewis said. “Legally, Casden has been compliant with the law about giving notice to people.”

For some, like Batchu, uncertainty lingers with less than six weeks to find a new location. For others, like Linda Kim, owner of the Fashion Bank for 15 years, it means the end of business altogether.

“I can’t complain – we are on a month-by-month lease,” Kim said. “But it would’ve been nice to have six more months to properly move.”

DeGrazia said he hopes the businesses will be able to find new locations, and he did not expect Casden to begin building so soon.

“We’re kind of surprised they’re moving forward so quickly,” DeGrazia said. “It’s rare for a project of this size to start up this fast.”

Some shop owners, like Batchu, reiterated that they were not opposed to the project but did not feel respected by Casden. Linda Kaufman, director of Beverly Hills Montessori School and a member of the West Hollywood Eastside Political Action Committee (PAC), recalls the last time representative of Casden spoke at a PAC meeting. She said they stated tenants would have until December to move, with demolition scheduled in January or February.

“It’s wrong to deal with people like they do,” Kaufman said. “Yes, I think they have a right to tear down their land, but they should have given them more time.”

For information, visit www.movietownplaza.com.