Vendors unsure about proposed high-rise above MacArthur Park/Westlake Metro station

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

For over a decade, Ana Vasquez has sold vitamins, creams and other goods out of her well-organized stand at Alvarado and 6th streets, across from MacArthur Park.

But business has slowed by more than half, she said, thanks in part to the drop in foot traffic due to the ongoing immigration raids that started last year.

So when Vasquez heard about Centro Westlake, a proposed high-rise project above the nearby Metro station, she was apprehensive.

“What happens to my business will depend on the kinds of businesses that open in the Centro and their prices. Here, with street vendors, prices are negotiable,” Vasquez said. “The Centro opening could really hurt us, rents might go up, making it even harder for me to eventually have my own brick-and-mortar.”

Last month, city officials advanced the project, a partnership between developer Walter J. Company and the Los Angeles Metro, according to reporting from Urbanize LA.  

The project will include a two-tower complex with hundreds of residential units, including income-restricted housing. The site will also include a hotel, office, retail and medical space, designated parking and a a 55-story and 39-story towers.

There is not set timeline for the project.

The developer and the architecture firm behind the project, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, did not respond to requests for more information on the timeline, including when construction could begin or an estimated completion date.

Whenever the transit village arrives, it will undoubtedly alter the neighborhood’s character.

Street vendors setup on Alvarado Street in Westlake near the site of the proposed Centro Westlake mixed-use complex.

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Marina Peña

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The LA Local

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Produce vendor Lonidas Pinto is optimistic the development could benefit the area by bringing in more foot traffic.

“The Centro might compete with us, but I think there will also be more people overall, and they’ll buy more,” Pinto said. “Maybe people will start coming from farther away.”

Centro Westlake is expected to transform the blocks surrounding the Westlake/MacArthur Park station, bringing a dense mix of housing, offices and retail directly atop one of the area’s busiest transit hubs.

Plans for Centro Westlake were presented to a community advisory group, and feedback from March 2023 shows the project has been shaped, in part, by what residents said they wanted to see: safer streets, more open and usable public space, and stronger connections to the Metro station.

Design updates focused on improving pedestrian access from multiple sides of the site and reworking the station plaza to include seating, lighting and active uses, with the goal of making the area feel more accessible and less congested.

Community input also emphasized the need for economic opportunities and resources that reflect the neighborhood. In response, updated plans for the site now highlight space for local vendors and small businesses, along with programming tied to arts, culture and community services.

The development would span nearly 150,000 square feet, bordered by Wilshire Boulevard, Alvarado Street, Westlake Avenue and 7th Street, according to renderings presented to the public.

The transit village is expected to generate more than 700 on-site jobs — including positions in hotel, parking, security, office and retail operations, according to a 2002 report from the developer. It’s unclear if those estimates are up to date.

Artist’s rendering of Centro Westlake, a mixed-use complex that would include housing, retail, medical space and more.

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Courtesy Walter J Company

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According to the developer, about 20% of the retail space would be set aside for existing local businesses.

A few blocks away from the subway station, sits Doña Bibi’s, a neighborhood staple known for its Honduran-style dishes, like baleadas, which are handmade flour tortillas with refried beans, sour cream and cheese. The restaurant has been serving customers in the neighborhood since 1997. 

Mednik Sandoval, whose family owns the restaurant, said a project like Centro Westlake could help the neighborhood by bringing in more residents and businesses, while contributing to efforts to clean up nearby streets and reduce encampments.

“If it’s going to be residential and commercial, it helps the neighborhood, it would mean more people moving in, more people going up and down the streets, more businesses opening,” Sandoval said. 

At the same time, he said any decision to relocate the nearly three-decade-old restaurant would depend on cost, but that it’s something he and the other owners would consider if the opportunity made sense.

“If the prices are better, they might consider it,” he said. Still, he’s unsure if the business would be willing to relocate.

Near MacArthur Park is Aardvark Letterpress, a family-run print shop that has been in Westlake since 1968. The shop specializes in traditional letterpress printing, using heavy, decades-old machinery.

Owner Brooks Ocon said relocating his business isn’t an option.

“We’re a very specialized business with heavy machinery that really requires the ground floor. It’s not stuff you can just move into an office building,” Ocon said.

The Centro Westlake project follows a previous proposal from the same developer. That project received city approval nearly a decade ago for a high-rise just one block east along Wilshire Boulevard: a project that has yet to break ground.