South Bay Echo for Dec 17
Gang shooting at Del Amo, Catalina Avenue project, Webb telescope launch and Daily Breeze ball drive extends deadline.
Hello friends… Welcome to the 16th edition of South Bay Echo, your source of local hometown news with a real estate angle.
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Gang shooting at Del Amo mall
Torrance Police say the shooting that wounded three people at Del Amo Fashion Center in the parking lot outside BJs Restaurant Tuesday evening was gang related. It was nonetheless scary and a worrisome sign the lawlessness taking place in recent weeks, from home break-ins to smash and grab robberies, could be reaching the South Bay.
The Grove this week surrounded certain entrances with barbed wire to prevent the type of large scale coordinated robberies that have occured in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Valencia and elsewhere over the past month.
I do believe what we are witnessing is the type of class revolt that leading economists have warned us might happen with such severe income inequality like we have in the US. And the gap could hardly be wider than it is in Los Angeles.
Catalina Avenue townhome project
A proposed mixed-use development around the former site of Catalina Coffee in Redondo Beach has finally gone before the Planning Commission. Now an environmental impact report is being considered with comments due by Jan. 18.
The proposed development covers six lots in total. It would retain the coffee shop and the two structures on either side to be remodelled for new commercial uses while building townhomes and a new apartment building on the east side.
It would demolish nearly 9,000 square feet of space and build 22 three-story townhomes, four apartment units in the former Masonic Lodge building at 112 N. Catalina Ave. and four apartment units in a new three-story apartment building, for a combined total of 30 residential units on the project site.
Most notable is the size of the units. The proposed townhomes would consist of three 2-bedroom units, fifteen 5-bedroom units, one 6-bedroom unit, and three 7-bedroom units ranging from approximately 1,022 to 3,148 square feet each.
To read the draft EIR and comment visit Redondo.org/CatalinaVillage.
Webb telescope from Redondo Beach heads to cosmos
After more than 20 years in development and $10 billion, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is set to launch off a European Space Agency rocket in French Guiana on Friday, Dec 24.
With so much money and so much effort put into this project, I can only imagine the knot in the stomachs of the lead engineers at launch time.
The telescope was mounted atop the booster on Saturday but a faulty cable delayed takeoff a few days. With such precious cargo, engineers are taking no chances.
The vast majority of the Webb telescope was designed and built at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach in a giant hangar where on several occasions I had the chance to visit. Engineers wearing white jumpsuits and hair nets and face masks toiled over the giant apparatus.
When the James Webb Space Telescope reaches its destination roughly 1 million miles from Earth, it will look back at the first rays of light that left the most distant galaxies at the time of the big bang. The first of its kind and a predecessor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the Webb is the most expensive and complex science spacecraft ever built.
CBS’s 60 Minutes had a great segment on the Webb telescope this past Sunday. To watch it click here.
Daily Breeze ball drive extends deadline
It’s not too late to make your contribution to the Daily Breeze ball drive. Due to a lackadaisical response so far, organizers have extended the deadline. Visit a Big 5 today for a 20% discount on any ball you contribute. All balls go directly to a child at the Boys & Girls Club of LA Harbor.
All for now… thanks for reading and Happy Holidays. If you like it please comment or pass it along.
Love your work, David. 6 bedrooms? Wonder who would buy that one or the 5 bedrooms for that matter. Have you heard anything about the development on the Galleria acreage? Have you heard any reaction about the Beach Cities getting rolling into District 2 w Holly Mitchell? Mary Smiley