Destination Crenshaw was once hailed as a generation-defining, cultural arts project that would honor and cement the contributions of Black LA.
A decade after launching, though, the project is still incomplete and some in the community have expressed their frustration about the inconveniences of the ongoing project.
Jason Foster, president of the Destination Crenshaw nonprofit , attributed the delays to the COVID-19 pandemic, construction inherited from other agencies, weather interruptions and rising construction costs.
“For this project, it seems as though the leaders in charge of this one were hoping no one would notice,” O’lita Schafer, who lives on Crenshaw Boulevard near the project, wrote in an email. “And I find the excuses used to be unconvincing and inadequate.”
The idea for Destination Crenshaw was conceived by LA City Council President and District 8 representative Marqueece Harris-Dawson in 2016, its nonprofit was formed in 2018, ground broke in 2020 and construction began in November 2021, according to a spokesperson for the councilman.
The project was supposed to have a public opening in February 2024, according to a 2023 architectural fact sheet. Project officials have said they’ve communicated the reason for the delays with the public and that the public can keep up with the project’s progress on their website, text line or Instagram. However, some business owners and residents told The LA Local the lack of consistent communication or messaging with them have contributed to their discontent.
When asked about messaging and keeping the community informed about the Destination Crenshaw’s progress, Foster said messaging wasn’t the issue.
“It’s an educational issue around public infrastructure and construction and the process,” Foster said. “The life of a project tends to increase costs. That is a part of infrastructure because of the time that it takes. Yes, we could have done a better job of explaining that.”
The LA Local reached out to Harris-Dawson to confirm if and when he made any official announcement about the project’s delays since breaking ground in February 2020. He did not provide a written response, but a spokesperson provided links for stories published by CBS LA and NBC LA in August.
Harris-Dawson also wrote a Sept. 2 letter addressing complaints where he said he expects the project to be completed in early 2028, four years after its original proposed opening.
Destination Crenshaw breaks
down what caused the delays
Foster explained that soon after breaking ground in February 2020, the project was halted and the world had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Destination Crenshaw then turned its focus toward helping the community by delivering meals to seniors.
He also said construction resumed at Sankofa in November 2021 but a storm drain had to be relocated to complete Metro’s K line. The next year the region was hit with severe weather events like atmospheric river storms that further delayed the project.
“If you combine the stops and starts of the rain with the challenges of COVID, all of these things kind of factor into how you’re able to mobilize workers, what you have to do to then protect them and keep them safe,” Foster said. “We invested a lot of time and energy in making sure that while we were accomplishing our goals, we were creating a safe work environment.”
By 2023, Foster said construction resumed, however, they realized they’d need to raise additional funds to complete the entire 1.3 miles of construction so they decided to focus solely on Sankofa, which is scheduled to be completed next year.
The final budget is expected to be $151 million, if nothing else unexpected occurs, according to Harris-Dawson.
Late last year, Destination Crenshaw received a Baldwin Hills Conservancy grant for $3.3 million and County of Los Angeles grant for $1 million to complete the project, Foster said.
“There is much more still to do, and I am fully committed to meet the hurdles that a project of this scale must overcome,” Harris-Dawson wrote in a Sept. 2 letter addressing complaints.
“Since this project began, it has had to break free of the reluctance and the institutionalized, second-rate expectations that for decades have hampered investments in South LA,” he wrote in the letter.
Here’s how community members
responded to the reasons for delays with Destination Crenshaw
It’s been nearly three months since residents and business owners held the “Keep the Promise” meeting at Bethesda Temple Church to discuss the unfinished Destination Crenshaw project. The event was hosted by KBLA Talk 1580 operator Tavis Smiley, whose office is near Sankofa Park, a section of the project.
Since then, Destination Crenshaw has removed its fencing along Crenshaw Boulevard. Still, questions remain about when the project will be completed and how long businesses will continue to experience construction-related disruptions.
Smiley, who organized the July community meeting, said through spokesperson S. Shanel Carmon that they’d had “enough of the excuses.”
“We’re way past ineffectual debates about 9 years of construction delay excuses, which still do not explain why construction has not resumed almost 7 months after Mr. Smiley went public with this matter on our air at KBLA Talk 1580,” Carmon wrote on Smiley’s behalf in an email to The LA Local .
Schafer, the Crenshaw Boulevard resident, spoke during the community meeting about how the project impacted her home’s reconstruction. Schafer said knowing about the cause of the delays in real time would not have made a difference.
“At this point, no, I don’t think my frustration would be different here had we known about the setbacks,” Schafer said.
Beron Thompkins, owner of Miles Copy Center for the past five years, also spoke during the meeting back in July.
He said he supports Destination Crenshaw’s mission, but has been disappointed by its execution and by its lack of progress.
“The fencing around the dug out sidewalks here basically blocked people from easy access to the business,” Thompkins said. “Some people automatically assumed that our business was closed because of how it looked.”
Thompkins said after surviving the pandemic, construction of the K line and now construction of Destination Crenshaw, businesses nearby have struggled to remain open.
He also emphasized that his copy center is located across the street from Destination Crenshaw’s headquarters and he’s disappointed with the lack of communication or visibility from Harris-Dawson over the years.
“I have never seen him once. He doesn’t come out to talk to us ever,” Thompkins said. “I think if he did that, we wouldn’t have had questions and this wouldn’t be such a public issue.”
Foster said one of the things the Destination Crenshaw nonprofit has learned is “that we need to get better at explaining just construction in general,” adding that building a 1.3-mile project that includes “multiple installations of monumental art, is different from erecting a building at a single location” because there are unpredictable variables that can significantly affect a project’s timeline.
“We recognize our responsibility to communicate more transparently about the challenges and complexities involved in finishing this project,” Foster wrote in an email. “Going forward, we are committed to providing greater clarity about what it takes to deliver a project of the scale and ambition of Destination Crenshaw.”
