In 2022, the city of Inglewood agreed to a contract with developers to build apartments in place of the boarded-up building at 100 E. Nutwood St.
The company, 317 La Brea, LLC, had big plans for the parcel and a neighboring piece of land that included more than 140 apartments and 21,000 square feet of restaurants and stores, according to city documents. The developers were set to purchase the plot for $4.6 million, according to a development agreement with the city.
But nearly four years and one shredded contract later, no apartments are in sight.
“(The buildings) have just been sitting there,” said Yisel Pat, the manager of a clothing store around the corner.
Community members told The LA Local they’d like to see some use come out of the Nutwood parcel, whether for housing or a shopping center. The vacant parcel is just two blocks away from Inglewood’s beleaguered Market Street commercial corridor — with both sites serving as focal points of city efforts to spread the rapid growth of Inglewood’s sports and entertainment district more broadly across the city.
Those efforts hit a recent roadblock as Inglewood City Council voted on March 24 to re-list the city-owned property on Nutwood as surplus, five months after the city and 317 La Brea, LLC, terminated their development agreement.
The city will reopen the land for new proposals, Inglewood Mayor James Butts told The LA Local.
Bernard McCrumby, the city’s development services director, said the city hopes to see the vacant land developed with some mix of housing, commercial and hospitality projects.
“We’ll see what comes out in the wash. I’m excited to see the growth and the movement,” McCrumby said.
No contact information was listed, specifically, for 317 La Brea, LLC. The company shares officers and an address with the Chatsworth firm Uncommon Developers, whose representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
City staff wrote in meeting documents that the developer made “reasonable efforts” to start construction but was blocked by factors including the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting real estate markets.
McCrumby told The LA Local the city was excited about the project, but developers were not able to make the project finances pencil out.
The Nutwood Street parcel shares a block with Grevillea Art Park and another husk of a building at 317 La Brea Ave. The area around the parcel is in the middle of big changes. To the north sits the Jordan Brand basketball facility that replaced a former public adult school in January. To the west, heavy machines were busy Wednesday demolishing part of the Inglewood High School campus for reconstruction.
Pat, the clothing store manager , said she’d be happy to see housing go up on the land if it included low-income apartments. She said she understands if the city goes in a different direction.
“They’re trying to make (the city) look more high class,” she said.
Inglewood resident Cheryle Matlock said much of the city’s recent years of development have seemed to center around sports and entertainment venues.
Matlock said that if the city goes ahead with plans to close down a mall on nearby Market Street, she’d like to see the Nutwood Street parcel and neighboring buildings turn into some sort of shopping center.
