By ELLEN ENDO
Rafu Shimpo
At a meeting held May 26, leaders of the Little Tokyo Against Gentrification (LTAG) coalition outlined demands they are seeking from developers of the planned $2 billion Fourth & Central mixed-use project.
LTAG organizers David Monkawa and Mitchell Matsumura laid out a three-point set of demands during the gathering at Union Church:
? Increase affordable housing to 35%.
? Submit a safety plan for PM2.5 pollution.
? Meeting space accessible to community.
“Today we want to try to solidify our demands,” Monkawa told the assemblage, who were primarily residents from Little Tokyo Towers and Miyako Gardens.
It was the latest in a series of meetings convened by LTAG, which is composed of Save Our Seniors Network, Jtown Action & Solidarity, and Greater Los Angeles Japanese American Citizens League. LTAG previously organized the protests centered around the departure of Suehiro Café from its Little Tokyo site.
Plans by Continuum Partners call for developing 7.6 acres owned by Los Angeles Cold Storage, a firm established in 1895 as an ice production and distribution company. As L.A.’s population grew, and the city emerged as major source of eggs and produce, Cold Storage became a key component of the city’s food and ice distribution system.
At issue, among other topics, are the anticipated 1,521 residential units. Currently, approximately 14% of the units (about 213) are earmarked for low-income housing as well as extremely low-income housing. LTAG seeks to increase Continuum’s allocation to 35%.
Other components include 401,000 square feet of office space, 93,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, and a 68-room hotel. Plans call for 10 different buildings ranging from two to 42 stories, broken up by a network of private streets and paseos.
Opponents say that the project, which is in the Arts District adjacent to the Downtown Industrial District on the west and Little Tokyo Galleria at 3rdand Alameda streets on the north, is “just too big.”
In 2017 and again in 2021, Galleria owners announced plans to develop the 3.6-acre site into a large residential project with nearly 1,000 units, but it has yet to materialize.
Supporters, on the other hand, welcome the development, which one stakeholder called “world-class.”
Continuum acquired the Cold Storage property in 2019. In 2022, the company broke ground on a another Arts District project, a 100,000-square-foot office building on Santa Fe Avenue. It is anticipated that construction will begin in two years and could take five to seven years to complete.
“We’re not saying we don’t want luxury. We just want what’s fair,” said Matsumura.