Adam Chu is an entrepreneur opening a seafood grill restaurant in Monrovia on April 17, at 123 East Colorado Boulevard. It will be called Big Shrimps Fish Grill. His goal is to keep menu items reasonably priced because he is also the supplier. he imports seafood under the company he founded called Five Star Seafoods. Chu moved the operations of Five Star from Arcadia to the second floor of the new building that will house his restaurant.
Business spotlight on Hyper Coffee at 203 S. First Avenue in Arcadia, in a historic Art Deco building. It has been in business 17 years. By Helen Wang.
Arcadia City Council voted 4-to-0 to pass a new food hall plan for Downtown Arcadia at 33 West Huntington Drive. The food hall will contain seven to eight different food vendors of a pre-existing building, while the upper floors will continue to operate as self-storage units. One of the project goals is to preserve the existing building and keep the midcentury look of it, according to City of Arcadia Senior Economic Development Analyst Tim Schwehr.
Arcadia launches the new Arcadia Downtown Business Association, with plans to revitalize the downtown district. Matt McSweeney is the association's chairperson and owner of Matt Denny's Ale House Restaurant on East Huntington Drive. City officials will spend about $90,000 on a parking study and about $18,000 in redevelopment funds to get Arcadia Downtown Business Association off the ground. The revitalization plans should work nicely with the slated opening of the Gold Line station at the northwest corner of North First Avenue and East Santa Clara Street by 2014.
Upscale H Mart Supermarket to have grand opening in Arcadia December 8. H Mart serves both traditional Asian and international food. It is over 40,000 square feet of retail space at 1101 West Huntington Drive, Arcadia, CA, on the site of a former Ralphs Supermarket.
Singpoli, an Arcadia-based investment and development firm, bought a 1.6 acre property at Lake Avenue and Union Street in Pasadena and plans to build a $60 million mixed use project, including a 165-room hotel and condo complex with 60 units. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 11, May 11, 2017.
Alan Weeks, a retiree who rode the last Pacific Electric Red Car that went through this area in 1951, visits the Arcadia Gold Line Station at North First Avenue and Santa Clara Street.
Iconic Arcadia Chamber of Commerce building celebrates 50 years on November 12. A 1965 time capsule to be opened with tours of the building remodel. The building is round and all glass. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 1, 19, November 5, 2015. See also Mountain Views News, p. 7, November 14, 2015 (time capsule was opened and contained film strips, films, and papers).
Major changes on tap for Arcadia in the new year. Delta Marriott Hotel slated for the old Santa Anita Inn; Arcadia's tallest building, currently housing Bank of America at 150 N. Santa Anita Avenue, has gone up for sale. The current Arcadia Self Storage at 35 W. Huntington Drive is proposed to become a modern food vendor location, reminiscent of the Grand Central Market in Downtown Los Angeles or the Anaheim Packing House.
Building hits million mark. September permits push total to $1,101,525 for 1938. Largest single item on the official building report was $18,000 for Santa Anita Park entrance building which houses ticket booths. See hard copy in subject file Business and Industry.
Downtown Arcadia businesses create "Community Benefit District." Each business owner would pay extra in property taxes to go into a fund to better market the area to customers and visitors. With the Gold Line Station at North First Avenue and East Santa Clara Street scheduled to open in 2015, efforts to help brand the area have been fast-tracked.
Downtown Arcadia business owners establish a Community Benefit District, mandating they each pay an annual assessment on their property taxes to fund marketing programs and activities in hopes of bringing more people to the area. It is called a Property-Based Business Improvement Model. It is a private-sector initiative that bills local businesses by the same criteria used in Old Pasadena--according to their frontage, lot size and scope of any buildings on a given property. 60% of downtown Arcadia owners chose the plan, the result of a three year effort.