The Cerritos Towne Center is a

retail park A retail park is a type of shopping centre found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in the United Kingdom and other European countries. They form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, standal ...

located in the center of

Cerritos, California Cerritos (Spanish for "Little hills") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and is one of several cities that constitute the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. It was incorporated on April 24, 1956. As of 20 ...

that combines

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

ing,

office An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

, and

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

in one master project. The Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts is located within the southwestern part of the project. Cerritos High School, Cerritos City Hall, the Cerritos Sheriff Station, and the

Cerritos Millennium Library The Cerritos Library is the civic library for the City of Cerritos, California. It was rededicated on March 16, 2002, with the new moniker and the current futuristic design. It was the first building to feature an exterior clad with titanium pan ...

are all located across the street from the Towne Center development and are sometimes collectively referred to as "Downtown Cerritos."

Development and history

The Golden Triangle

Built on of former dairy farms, the future site of the Cerritos Towne Center was one of the last remnants of the city of Cerritos' agricultural past. The area, formally known as "Area Development Plan 2", bounded by State Route 91 to the north, Shoemaker Avenue to the east, 183rd Street to the south and Bloomfield Avenue to the west, was nicknamed "the Golden Triangle" by the local press because of its large revenue potential

By the time the dairies moved out and the area was ready for urban renewal, redevelopment in the early 1980s, the Cerritos Redevelopment Agency discussed possible uses for the large plot. Housing, residential and recreational development were ruled out because the redevelopment agency decided that whatever be built in the area ought to generate

tax revenue Tax revenue is the income that is collected by governments through taxation. Taxation is the primary source of government revenue. Revenue may be extracted from sources such as individuals, public enterprises, trade, royalties on natural resour ...

. Since 1970, a proposal floated around for a unique donut-shaped shopping center, but the idea was eventually turned down due to its closeness to the already successful Los Cerritos Center. The following year in 1971, discussions were held to feature a Polynesian cultural center complete with an artificial ocean with six islands and a volcano that would erupt nightly. Neighbors with

NIMBY NIMBY (or nimby), an acronym for the phrase "not in my back yard", is a characterization of opposition by residents to proposed developments in their local area, as well as support for strict land use regulations. It carries the connotation that ...

mindsets and concern with pollution (although the developer promised the pollution would be controlled) was enough to reject the development

Market research conducted by the city concluded that a mixed-use of public facilities,

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s, office and commercial buildings would be the most ideal usage of the Golden Triangle space.

Southern division

The city of Cerritos immediately contracted the Transpacific Development Company to work on the multiphased southern project. Pressure from neighboring cities such as Norwalk and

Downey Downey may refer to: People * Downey (surname) *Robert Downey Jr. Places * Downey, California, US * Downey, Idaho, US * Downey, Iowa, US Businesses * W. & D. Downey, photographic studio * Downey Studios, created out of a former Boeing plant Sch ...

that were building new hotels in their respective cities added to the competition. Capitalizing on its proximity to the Artesia Freeway, the redevelopment agency spent $8.6 million on road improvements, adding on-ramps and off-ramps to the Towne Center, and

landscaping Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal ...

. Projected figures used by city leaders calculated that over its first 50 years, the $225 million Cerritos Towne Center would generate $585 million in tax revenue and 4,500 jobs. Indeed, the national accounts division of ADP moved its regional headquarters into the Cerritos Towne Center and were the first occupants of the office sector. In 1990, Phase I of the Towne Center project welcomed the 8-story Sheraton Cerritos Hotel, which remains the only transient occupancy building in the city. In January 1993, the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors to the public and remains one of the most acclaimed venues for its size.

Northern division

Retail and restaurants were reserved for the northern

quadrants Quadrant may refer to: Companies * Quadrant Cycle Company, 1899 manufacturers in Britain of the Quadrant motorcar * Quadrant (motorcycles), one of the earliest British motorcycle manufacturers, established in Birmingham in 1901 * Quadrant Privat ...

. The city of Cerritos hired the Vestar Development Company of

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

to develop the commercial sector along the lines of Newport Beach's

Fashion Island Fashion Island is an outdoor regional shopping mall in Newport Beach, California. Opened in 1967 by The Irvine Company as the anchor to their master-planned Newport Center district, Fashion Island is anchored by Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman M ...

. However, further market research revealed that the upscale retail market was in a slump and would compete negatively with the Los Cerritos Center across town. City leaders decided that a more midscale big-box center would succeed and complement shopping in Cerritos. To much fanfare, Smith's Food King and one of the first

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

stores in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

area ushered in the commercial phase of the Towne Center project on August 26, 1994. Today, the Cerritos Towne Center brings in a gross retail sales total in excess of $200 million a year

References

*Eftychiou, A., & Cenovich, M. (2006). ''Cerritos at 50: celebrating our past and our future.'' Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company Publishers.

External links