Marlton Square is a one-block

medical facility A health facility is, in general, any location where healthcare is provided. Health facilities range from small clinics and doctor's offices to urgent care centers and large hospitals with elaborate emergency rooms and trauma centers. The numbe ...

, retail and residential portion of Marlton Ave, located in the Baldwin Village neighborhood in the city of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. It is bordered by Martin Luther King Jr Blvd on the north, Marlton Ave on the east, Santa Rosalia Dr on the south, Angeles Vista Blvd on the southeast, Thrive Dr. on the southwest and Buckingham Road on the west. Across from the medical facility is the

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza (alternately BHCP) is a shopping mall located in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. This was one of the first regional shopping centers in the United States built specifically for the automo ...

, a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

History

Marlton Square was created and built in the early 1950s as a retail strip mall. It was then known as Santa Barbara Plaza due do the fact it was on Santa Barbara Avenue before it was changed to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. In 2003, local developers broke ground in the first phase of the Marlton Square

redevelopment Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include: ...

project. This phase involved constructing the Buckingham Place Senior

Retirement Community A retirement community is a residential community or housing complex designed for older adults who are generally able to care for themselves; however, assistance from home care agencies is allowed in some communities, and activities and socializ ...

project, a 180-unit apartment complex, that is adjacent to the Baldwin Villa Plaza

senior housing A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Typically, each person or couple i ...

complex and shopping mall. The project was scheduled to be completed in spring of 2004. Several million dollars of public and private funding were awarded to the project. Although the redevelopment project began with concerns of political favoritism, it was billed as "the catalytic project for the Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw communities", and a lynchpin development project for the entire area. While initially promising, financial difficulties and other problems quickly beset the project. Capital Vision Equities' first check to the city bounced in 2001 and the testimony of whistle-blowers lead to an audit by the Ethics Commission early on in the project. Ultimately these problems overwhelmed the developer, and amid complaints of mismanagement the redevelopment of Marlton Square has stalled in bankruptcy. Several other agencies have been involved with the development project, including Keyshawn Capital Development, which is owned and operated by former NFL wide receiver

Keyshawn Johnson Joseph Keyshawn Johnson (born July 22, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons. He played college football for the University of Southern Calif ...

. The old retail stores were demolished in May 2011 to make way for future development. By the end of 2009 Buckingham Place was largely finished but had remained unopened due to bankruptcy. In early 2012 Buckingham Place

housing complex A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

opened. A opened on September 7, 2017. The facility has a two-mile walking path and outdoor plaza. A new shopping center complex along with new

restaurants A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

and

retail store Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

s are also being planned to be built by private developers. In 2022, the city request for proposals process selected Hudson Pacific Properties to enter into an exclusive negotiation agreement.

Transportation

The Martin Luther King Jr. station provides access to the Kaiser Permanente medical facility, the Crenshaw Medical Arts Centre clinic office building and the

via the

K Line is a Japanese transportation company. It owns a fleet that includes dry cargo ships (bulk carriers), container ships, liquefied natural gas carriers, Ro-Ro ships, tankers, and container terminals. It used to be the fourteenth largest contai ...

References

External links

In 2010, Leimert Park Beat: The Soul of Los Angeles partnered with Intersections South LA Report and Spot.us to create the definitive report on the Marlton Square/Santa Barbara Plaza fiasco.
{{authority control History of Los Angeles Kaiser Permanente hospitals Geography of Los Angeles Healthcare in California Crenshaw, Los Angeles