Westside : Officials Regret Loss of Bloomingdale’s Bid

After more than a year of wooing Bloomingdale’s, Beverly Hills city officials expressed disappointment Wednesday when the parent company of the upscale retailer announced plans to open the store in neighboring Century City.

In a long-awaited decision, Federated Department Stores Inc. said it will open a Bloomingdale’s in the building now occupied by the Broadway in the Century City Shopping Center. Bloomingdale’s also will open stores in Sherman Oaks and Newport Beach.

The company’s decision comes 10 months after Federated officials signed a non-binding agreement with Beverly Hills to build the West Coast flagship Bloomingdale’s on Beverly Drive.

The agreement involved Federated’s leasing city-owned property, while Beverly Hills leased Federated’s newly purchased Beverly Drive land to build its own, adjacent retail complex. Bloomingdale’s and the city retail project could have netted the city between $3 million and $5 million a year in sales tax revenue and rent, officials said.

Beverly Hills Mayor Allan Alexander said he was disappointed by Federated’s decision, but not surprised.

“Frankly, I thought after [Federated] bought Broadway, they would probably end up in Century City,” Alexander said. “[The Century City location] is approximately 240,000 square feet, same as the store they planned to build in Beverly Hills, and obviously it can be converted into a Bloomingdale’s faster than building a new store.”