Arcadia officials, fearing that Caltrans would squirm out of a promise to fix the earthquake damaged railroad bridge at 2nd Street and Huntington Drive, have asked the state to make that promise in writing.
The Arcadia Redevelopment Agency granted Stanley Gribble and Associates a 6-month exclusive right to negotiate with the city to develop a commercial project at the east end of the city between the railroad tracks on the south and west, Huntington on the north and 5th Avenue on the east.
The developer of Monrovia's Huntington Oaks shopping center now has an exclusive right to negotiate with the Arcadia Redevelopment Agency to construct a $17.3 million office and restaurant complex on the south side of Huntington Drive between the railroad tracks and the east boundary of the city.
Plans for a series of office buildings and a high-rise hotel in the Arcadia redevelopment area require general plan and zone changes. The first move is an environmental impact report for the area bounded by the 210 Freeway on the north, the railroad tracks on the south, Fifth Avenue on the east and Second Avenue on the west.
The newly installed railroad crossing at First Avenue and Santa Clara Street was dedicated. To celebrate the occasion, the Goodyear blimp (Goodyear supplied the rubber crossing pads) hovered overhead. Arcadia is the first city in the Los Angeles area to install rubber crossings. The city is paying $93,000 of the nearly $200,000 cost of the project.