A new residential building being constructed in Echo Park is causing some small businesses to consider closing up for good.
Oren Pius’s “Cosmic Vinyl Cafe” has been open for almost eight years. His business plan relies on walk-in customers who browse his used records and sip his coffee. But lately things have changed.
“They’ll call me back and go, ‘so sorry — we couldn’t find anywhere to park’ and just drive away,” Pius said.
On certain days of the week, a stretch of sunset boulevard at mohawk street loses dozens of parking spaces.
Rows of cones and sometimes big trucks are idling near tables where cafe customers like to sit.
This is all connected to this construction project of a seven story, 176-unit residential building.
Susan Lee’s business, “Wilder Los Angeles,” was looking forward to a big holiday shopping season this year.
The holiday decorations are up and she’s got a loyal clientele who favors vintage clothing and other sustainable goods.
Everything seemed to be going well until the construction site opened up in October.
Lee says Cypress Equity, which is the development company behind the new building, gives businesses a calendar, showing when and where the street and parking situation will change. But there’s no consistency, she says.
“When you block the entire thing off? it makes it impossible to run a brick and mortar,” Lee said. “It could knock me out of business.”
Retailers and restaurant owners here say they’ve already seen what could happen to them.
A sandwich shop, a tattoo parlor and a boutique right next door to Lee’s place have all gone out of business.
With the help of councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez’s office, the development company has agreed to fewer street closures in January and moved staging areas farther away from the neighborhood.
But as far as some kind of compensation like what movie studios pay when filming on-location, Lee said they were told no.
“An ‘inconvenience fee.’ it’s not different than that,” Pius said.
The councilman’s office said all the permitting for this was approved during a previous administration, so their “hands are tied.”
NBC4 reached out to Cypress Equity, the development company behind the project for comment. So far, they have not responded.
Source: NBC Los Angeles