Crenshaw Plaza Breaks Ground

Ground breaking for Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, a $90-million shopping mall to include Sears, Broadway and May Co. stores plus 120 additional shops, will take place Thursday at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Crenshaw boulevards.

The original Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, one of the first regional shopping malls in the United States, was constructed in 1947 with flagship stores of May Co. and the Broadway.

A joint venture of Alexander Haagen Development and Los Angeles’ Community Redevelopment Agency, the proposed expansion will feature a connecting retail bridge between May Co. and the main mall, a unifying Art Deco theme, skylighted mall with mature trees and individually designed store fronts in a variety of heights and depths.

Phase II of the expansion will add another major department store and a three-level parking structure. Phase I is scheduled to open in the fall of 1988.