Discomfort in Chinatown as Santa Monica developer cleans up shopping for Asian immigrants

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Loc Phan and his wife Lee had to move their womenswear boutique in Chinatown twice because of a property developer. And now they are afraid that it will happen again.

That summer, Santa Monica-based Redcar Properties purchased Dynasty Center, Chinatown’s largest indoor shopping space covering nearly 80,000 square feet. This is where the Phans, immigrants from Cambodia, set up their shelves of brightly colored clothes and tunics in 2019 after being pushed out of The Shop, another indoor space that Redcar is redesigning. Before The Shop, the Phans worked in the Chinatown Swap Meet building, which Redcar also bought and converted into high-end office space.

“We have to wait here. I don’t know what’s going to happen now, ”says Phan, who describes a fast-growing Chinatown with no affordable commercial space.

His wife walks in front of the store and points to North Spring Street, where all three seats are in a row, when a train pulls in near the light rail station.

“We have to go out every building they buy,” she says with a start.

Gentrification battles have been a staple in Chinatown for decades, but the potential loss of a common space as large and permanent as the Dynasty Center is causing waves of alarm.

On Friday, community activists and residents gathered outside the building’s back entrance to support dozen of shopkeepers who fear an eviction. Redcar has not issued eviction notices, but some renters report that they will have to move in the next two years.

Charlotte Nguyen, a volunteer with the Chinatown Community for Equitable Development, says she grew up with her Vietnamese refugee family at the Dynasty Center shopping for affordable housewares and clothing.

Her heart sank when Redcar bought the Dynasty Center for $ 29.5 million in July.

“I’ve seen greedy landlords neglect our homes and businesses and turn them over to outside developers without committing to our community,” said Nguyen. “I’ve seen the loss of local businesses and familiar faces on our streets, all in the hunt for profits, none of which ever comes back to us to make sure we can shelter, feed and thrive.”

Among previous owners, some tenants have been told that due to the pandemic, they will only have to pay 50% of their rent. Redcar property manager Song Jackson confirmed that they will pay in full again under Redcar ownership.

When approached in her office, Jackson said there were no plans to evict tenants and that she had not told any of them to leave.

“We – until now – we are not planning,” said Jackson. “So some tenants [are] maybe just assumed. ”

When asked if Redcar was planning to redesign the Dynasty Center, another person in the office who only identified himself as a co-property manager interjected: “We don’t have enough information to comment on.”

But Tola Long said it was Jackson who warned her that stalls like hers, where she sells luggage and handbags, would have to close by 2023. Long said Jackson encouraged them not to stock up on goods. So she listened.

“I’m going downtown and buying a few things,” Long said. “Little bit by bit, only week after week.”

But Long said she wasn’t waiting to find out what was going on at the Dynasty Center. After 10 years of operation, she plans to close the store and work for a relative, a cell phone wholesaler in the city center.

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