Signal Tribune Newspaper

BY NICK DIAMANTIDES
Staff Writer

After several years of discussions with city officials and property owners, last week TJX Companies announced its plans to open a Marshalls department store in the Bixby Knolls Shopping Center. TJX executives, shopping center owners and Long Beach city officials have been working on the deal, which was finalized recently, for nearly four years.
“We do have a lease signed for that location,” said TJX spokesperson Thea Houghton. “We are moving forward with plans to open the store by August of next year.”
Eighth District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, who has been working on the deal since 2004, could not be reached for comment. However, a few months ago when it seemed when the agreement would be finalized, she told the Signal Tribune that she was pleased that Marshalls was coming to the area.
“This is an exciting development for Bixby Knolls,” she said. “It’s going to bring more customers to all the stores and restaurants and will really boost our efforts to revitalize the area.”
Blair Cohn, executive director of the Bixby Knolls Improvement Association (BKBIA), agreed.
“In addition to the Marshalls store being built, the Bixby Knolls Shopping Center will get a facelift that will be a big improvement,” he said. “Just having something that is shiny and new will attract more visitors and shoppers to the area, but having a nationally known store like Marshalls there will bring people from other areas who will notice all the other shops and restaurants in Bixby Knolls. That will help everything the BKBIA is trying to do.”
Marshalls will occupy the site of Roberts department store on Atlantic Avenue between San Antonio Drive and 45th Street. The Roberts building has been vacant for more than 12 years and will be demolished sometime in the next several months. Plans for the shopping center 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.
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 who often can buy items at Marshalls that cost twice as much in one of the high-end department stores.
The store generates excitement among its regular customers by offering fresh supplies of new items on a regular basis.
A statement on the Marshalls Web site reads: “We have new finds coming into our stores constantly. Every week, each Marshalls store gets about 10,000 new items.”
The recently signed lease is between GASKA, Inc., which manages the property for GGF, LLC, (the company that owns it) and TJX Companies, parent company of Marshalls.
“We are providing a loan to the property owner who signed a lease with Marshalls,” said Lee Mayfield, redevelopment project officer with the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (RDA). “We also are providing them with a grant to do a façade improvement project in the rear of the buildings on the back of the property.”
He explained that the RDA loaned $3.7 million to GGF and will also reimburse the company for 50 percent of the cost of façade improvements up to $500,000.
The Long Beach Planning Department has approved the site plan for the project, but the company has not pulled demolition or building permits yet.
“They’re expected to deliver the store to Marshalls pursuant to their lease in June 2009,” said Mayfield.
According to Seda Aghaian, vice president of GASKA, it will be a one-story building. “We are planning to have the new Marshalls open by August 2009,” she said.
Aghaian also stated that project costs have not been calculated yet.
“Construction costs are driven by today’s variable market,” she explained. “It is an interesting time in the national economy and we are working to start construction as soon as possible.”
She noted that the project included renovating four stores in the vicinity of the new Marshalls.
GASKA and GGF are both based in Glendale and owned by the same principals.

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