More Money for Old Downtown

The Torrance City Council on Tuesday amended the city’s downtown redevelopment plan to allow the city to spend up to $50 million to improve the area in and around Torrance’s Old Downtown.

Council members also agreed to extend the life of the plan by 15 years, until the year 2029.

The downtown redevelopment plan initially was approved in 1979. It covers an 88-acre section of eastern Torrance, roughly bounded by Torrance Boulevard, Cravens Avenue, Carson Street and Border Avenue.

The original plan had a ceiling of $10 million. That meant the city’s Redevelopment Agency could collect a total of $10 million from the project area in the form of taxes through increased property values and channel that money back into improvements in the area.

“Our feeling is that were the Redevelopment Agency not involved, there’d really be minimal increases in property values. There might even be decreases,” said Michael Bihn, senior principal city planner.

But the city has nearly depleted that $10 million, Bihn said. So the council, also acting as the city’s Redevelopment Agency, voted to boost the ceiling by $40 million. The money will be used to install new pavement, sidewalks and trees as well as to improve sewers and parking in the downtown area, Bihn said.

In addition, the council will permit the Redevelopment Agency to incur bonded indebtedness of up to $18 million, up from $5 million. A total of $4.2 million of that increased bond capability will be used for the $35 million Gascon Mar Ltd. project of new condominiums and shops, approved by the council in March.