Blog
The property at Marine Avenue and 405 freeway has been vacant for years and is now destined to house two new hotels. Financing for the two projects was approved by the City Council and plans are now going forward. A Marriot Residence Inn and a Hilton Garden Inn have been approved for the vacant 5 acre site. Both buildings will be 4 stories and have around 320 rooms combined. The site is close to the Metro Green Line station and the two hotels will be the first new hotels built in Redondo Beach in several decades. The city of Redondo Beach is going to financially back the project which will cost approximately $60M to complete. The 5 acre parcel of land has been vacant for years since the Malibu Castle closed in 2005. It is anticipated that the project will produce $2M annually for the city coffers. Construction should start soon with an anticipated completion in Mid 2014 Read More
A $21M design for the much awaited Torrance Transit Center was announced this week according to the Daily Breeze. The will be constructed on over 16,000 square ft. former industrial land near Del Amo Blvd. and Crenshaw Blvd. Some plans are still ongoing. Those plans include a possible linking to the Torrance Transit Center with the Green Rail Line. Since much of the money going toward the Transit Center is being provided by the transportation taxes collected, there is a good chance to see the rail line extension eventually approved and built. A huge parking lot will be built and a retail building was originally planned but was slashed at the last minute. Location of Transit Center Many local developers are interested in building a retail complex. Experts are looking for an environmental impact report on the possible retail complex by the end of the year. Metro Rail is working to solve any problems with bringing the Metro line to Torrance and hopes to announce something positive soon, or when funding for the line can be solved. Read More
Originally over 7 square miles of trees and dirt roads, Lomita California has survived natural disasters, boundary disputes, world wars, civil wars, some oil booms, and more. On top of all the disputes and wars, Lomita found that it was slowly being gobbled up by the neighboring cities, all anxious to annex everything until the little community literally was no more. After many attempts to incorporate as a city, Lomita finally made it happen in 1964 and that was to stop the booming development and continuing annexation attempts. Now only 1.87 miles square Lomita began to start controlling its own future by taking over the children's schooling and the local water district. What started out as a rural quiet community, with only a simple ranch house and some out buildings and barns on the old Narbonne property, a few dirt roads, a couple of fruit orchards and a narrow gauge electric railroad that stopped on Western Avenue, Lomita has grown into a modern city with warm and welcoming residents and still retains it's quiet rural atmosphere and standard of living. Read More
Watch this beautiful Video of the South Bay and you will understand why sop many reside here. Housing sales are starting to go up, building starts are up, condo and townhome sales are setting new records in some areas. And we are seeing an upswing in South Bay real estate. Mortgage rates are still at an all time low. Lenders say they have money to lend. Lenders have tightened up their processing and underwriter guidelines, which is slowing down overall processing and funding times. Experts say that if there is no unforeseen crisis in the near future the trend should continue with gradual increase in sales. Foreclosures and lack of inventory is affecting many markets across the country at the present time, and that should start improving gradually. One factor that is helping to fuel the gains is heavy buying by investors, many paying cash for hot properties. Flipping houses is again being advertised heavily which causes some concerns. Many experts feel that “flipping” along with other factors was a major cause of some of the real estate problems of recent years. The pace of building is picking up as well, with housing starts in some states like Washington, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas and South Carolina are likely to near the levels last seen in the 2000-2003 period, by the end of this year. Construction industry experts are predicting a possible 17-20% increase in new housing starts. General increases in building permit applications are already being seen in some “hot market” areas. So what’s the down side of all of this? The unknown possible tax hikes coming in January and some other possible worsening economic factors coming out of Europe and Asia that could affect more than just the real estate industry. Read More
Door Stack-Drying Trick We wanted to paint all 20 doors in the house, but where do you put them while they're wet? By screwing short 2x4 blocks to the ends, we were able to paint both sides of each door and then stack them neatly while they dried. Just make sure to keep the same spacing between every pair of blocks. New Path From Old Stone I made a brand-new-looking flagstone pathway to my gazebo just by flipping over the weathered stones that were there and washing them off. The tricky part was fitting the shapes back together, but with a little finessing I managed it. Of Tee Bolts and Toilet Bowls When installing a toilet bowl, mark a line on the threaded ends of the tee bolts to show the orientation of the tees on the bolts' other end, which hold the bowl to the flange on the floor. Without that mark as a guide, you could turn the bolt 90 degrees as you tighten it and pull it out of the flange, making a mess of the wax ring. Trust me: I learned this one the hard way. Hand Protection I reuse those long, narrow plastic bags that newspapers are delivered in as protective gloves and sleeves when spray painting and pulling weeds. They're really good for uprooting and containing poison ivy and other stuff you shouldn't touch with bare hands; just remove the bags by pulling them inside out. Read More
Ponte Vista, a planned community to be built on the old Navy Housing land on Western Av, may be coming back to life after seven years on the chopping block. A new development team is proposing 1135 or 830 housing units. They are looking for comments from the community. Read More
Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Can an older city in the heart of the south bay hit a home run with a new style standard of living and lifestyle? Yes, you can and Hawthorne has done it with the completion of the Lyons Homes complex called ‘The... Read More
This December another South Bay landmark will go the way of Marineland, Torrance and Vermont Dirve Ins and the infamous Ascot Raceway. El Camino's Murdock Stadium is scheduled to be demolished. This local stadium opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1949. The new facility with a price tag of $37.2 mil will be completed by 2014. The project is paid for by your school bond money. Read More
Hawthorne has been a forward looking community, heavily involved in the Defense and Aerospace business since way before World War II and continues to get headlines with it’s newest Aerospace success story. Space-X, a fairly new company located in Hawthorne is destined to become even better known if it keeps... Read More
Holly Glen is a somewhat hidden jewel within the city of Hawthorne. Holly Glen is located east of Aviation Blvd. and north of Rosecrans. It has it's own school district (Wiseburn School District) and is almost a little town all to itself. There are some beautiful single family homes here, many have been remodeled and renovated in recent years. Property here is highly sought after and few of the original single family homes are ever for sale. The beautiful new Fusion Town Homes near 149th street, east of Aviation, has several plans available and are formidably priced. The location is just minutes away from the famous South Bay beaches, great shopping, entertainment, employment centers and close to all freeways. Read More