Nikkei Center Gets the Nodt
By GWEN MURANAKA
RAFU ENGLISH EDITOR IN CHIEF
Saturday, June 28, 2008

City informs Little Tokyo team that it has been selected to develop Mangrove site.

Jerde Partnership
A computer rendering of the Nikkei Center, created by Jerde Partnership, the lead architect on the team. The proposal calls for retail, housing and office space to be built at First and Alameda streets in Little Tokyo.

MARIO G. REYES/Rafu Shimpo
The Mangrove site is currently a city parking lot.

Cautious optimism pervaded as the city of Los Angeles informed Little Tokyo Service Center, Kaji and Associates and other members of their team that Nikkei Center LLC has been selected as the winning bid for the Mangrove site at First and Alameda streets. They were informed by letter late Tuesday that the office of the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) would recommend their bid to the City Council for final approval.

“We are in muted celebration mode,” said Bill Watanabe, LTSC executive director. “We were selected in competitive bidding, but until we get City Council approval everything is not finished yet. So at that point we can celebrate and roll up our sleeves.”

Nikkei Center consists of nearly 400 units of mixed-income rental housing, 180,000 square feet of office space, 80,000 square feet of retail space and approximately 1300 parking spaces. The office space is tentatively planned as the headquarters for L.A. Care Health Plan, a health maintenance organization created to provide public health benefits to under-served communities.

The Mangrove site, currently a city parking lot, is one of the last undeveloped parcels of land in the Little Tokyo area and the future site of a Gold Line light rail station. Metro is also looking at that intersection as the site of a proposed regional connector, which would link the Gold, Blue and Expo lines.

“If it does happen, not to be over dramatic, but to me it represents our last best chance to do a project that will tout the new Little Tokyo and try to attract businesses from Japan or those who want to do business in a Japanese American setting,” said Watanabe, whose organization would be responsible for the affordable housing component of the project.

“I’ve been very active in the historic preservation of Little Tokyo, but I do believe we need to develop Nikkei Center as the new modern Little Tokyo.”

The master developers of Nikkei Center are LTSC, Kaji and Associates, and Urban Partners LLC, which also developed the Wilshire Vermont Station. Jerde Partnership is the lead architect and has worked on Universal CityWalk, San Diego’s Horton Plaza and Roppongi Hills in Tokyo.

Other partners on the project include the Related Companies, Ted Tokio Tanaka Architects, Togawa Smith Martin Residential and Kaku Associates.

A final report will be submitted to the City Council by the CLA’s office. Competing bidders are also given an opportunity to appeal the decision by the select committee. The other bidders on the site are First and Alameda Partners, LLC, whose partners include the architectural firm RSA, Woolim Pacific Bridge Holdings, Inc. and Neimann Properties, Inc.; and Tokyo ArtPark Crossing, LLC, the team led by Portland, Ore.-based Williams and Dame Development and Concerto Development, Inc.

There were no details given by the CLA’s office outlining the reasons Nikkei Center was selected, pending the release of the final report. The proposals were evaluated based upon development concept and purchase offer, community benefits, financial feasibility, development team qualifications and financial capacity of the development team.

Watanabe credited Councilmember Jan Perry for her efforts to make sure there was community input on the project. Perry sponsored a series of focus groups and a community meeting in May where all three competing groups were given the opportunity to present their proposals.

He said that being the Little Tokyo team may have given them some advantage, but ultimately the decision was made on the team’s qualifications.

“They looked at the guidelines, who is building it and their connection to the community, there was a positive sensitivity to that,” said Watanabe. “It was helpful but if we weren’t qualified, being local would have been of no benefit.”

If approved, construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2009 with completion by the end of 2011.