EAST LOS ANGELES : Renovation to Bring Stores, 300 New Jobs
A major renovation of the sprawling Angelus Furniture Warehouse will bring a new grocery store and drugstore to the area, as well as 300 jobs in construction and retail.
The $9.5-million Angelus Grand Plaza development came about in a partnership between Angelus’ owner and the East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU).
Renovation will begin in January to make room for a Food 4 Less supermarket, a Sav-On drugstore and a Chief Auto Parts. Angelus will continue operating its retail business there during construction and will eventually occupy the entire 50,000-square-foot second floor, increasing its space by 30,000 square feet.
Owner Irwin Greenberg, 61, who has done everything in the family business from warehouse jobs to driving trucks, said the renovation project will be the highlight of his career. Greenberg has worked at Angelus, started in Downtown by his grandfather Harry Siskin in 1901, since he was 11.
“This is the thing that I’m most proud of,” said Greenberg, whose daughters and sons-in-law are also involved with Angelus and other family-owned furniture stores in Huntington Beach and Laguna Hills.
The 220,000-square-foot building sits on 5.5 acres at 3650 Olympic Blvd. amid manufacturing plants and warehouses. It can be seen from afar with its red circled “A” on its tower.
During World War II, glider wings were manufactured at the plant in addition to furniture. The furniture was sold only to decorators and retailers until after the war, when the company’s manufacturing jobs were moved to North Carolina and Virginia.
In 1962, the company merged with W.J. Sloan and was bought out by Beck Industries in 1969.
But Greenberg wanted to get back into the furniture business his family had started, so he bought the company back in 1973 and then most of the property nine years later.
Armed with reports that show East Los Angeles residents traveling out of the area to do most of their shopping because of the lack of retail stores and supermarkets, Greenberg and his family sought help with financing the renovation.
A one-story section of the building that connects two two-story sections will be torn down and converted into a courtyard, and escalators will be added. A walkway on the outside of the building and smaller retail shops will also be constructed, as well as a parking structure in the back lot.
The first phase, which includes the supermarket, drugstore and auto parts store, has been financed with the help of grants from the U.S. federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and by RLA, formerly Rebuild L.A. The nonprofit development group helped secure the financing from banks even though Greenberg said some still expressed uncertainty about the business prospects in the East Los Angeles area.
“I think the Southern California economy is still one of the worst in the United States today,” he said, “but I believe there are pockets here and there that can, if developed properly, be very profitable, and East L.A. is one of them.”
