Irwindale : Swap Meet Site Permit
The City Council will consider a construction permit application tonight for a building at a proposed huge open-air weekend swap meet on a former quarry site on Live Oak Avenue, east of the San Gabriel River Freeway.
Arcadia-based Nu-Way Industries Inc. has spent about $1 million on grading and installation of utilities at the 63-acre former quarry site. Over the last 20 years, city officials said, the quarry was filled with non-hazardous dirt and construction refuse from throughout the county.
As Nu-Way develops the land, a fledgling Irwindale company called L.A. International Marketplace is preparing to lease the property and operate what may be one of the county’s largest swap meets, selling mostly new and ethnically diverse items.
L.A. International Marketplace plans to use part of the grounds for a 2,800-square-foot office and food-storage building--for which it is applying for a building permit--and the rest for vendor space and parking.
The site would include about 40 acres for 1,600 vendors of food, clothing, antiques and other items, according to Jeff Margulies, the operating company’s general manager.
The project, which is expected to cost about $4 million, aims at drawing 10,000 to 12,000 shoppers on Saturday and Sunday, city officials said. The city is conducting traffic, security and aesthetic studies on the proposed marketplace. The development agreement between Nu-Way and the city has not been considered by the City Council.
The market, which would employ about 50 to 60 full- and part-time employees, would include several small food vendors that would be open during the week, Margulies said.
