Jared Kushner-Backed Development Group No Longer Buying Crenshaw Mall

The Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza — locally known as the Crenshaw Mall — is back on the market as of this week. Downtown Crenshaw announced that the agreement by LivWrk and DFH Partners to buy the mall had been terminated on December 11, putting the future of the sprawling plaza back into question.

The South LA mall’s purchase has been in a rocky state for a while now, in part due to the development company behind the bid and its connection with President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Previously, amidst a wave of activism, a community coalition had attempted to purchase the property and keep it in local control, but that multi-million-dollar big was rejected. Then in April, Deutsche Bank accepted a $100 million bid for the property from massive developer CIM Group, but ultimately that bid too was scuttled when CIM was criticized for partnering with Kushner as well, reported L.A. Taco.

There are still deep plans for the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, as the city has already approved plans to transform into a mixed-use complex with restaurants, 961 new condos and apartments, a 400-room hotel, and new offices, and retail space.

On its website, Downtown Crenshaw’s board chair Niki Okuk gave the following statement: “This is a tremendous Black community victory and testament to the power of the people. Downtown Crenshaw stood up and defeated LivWrk-DFH Partners, an unqualified out-of-town Trump-Kushner development partner, who sought to do harm to our beloved Crenshaw.”

In other news:

• Downtown Ventura restaurants are defying the regional outdoor dining ban, according to ABC-7, including Casa Bella and Nick The Greek.
• Il Capriccio is giving away Italian bread, pasta trays, and tiramisu on Christmas Eve from noon until 2 p.m.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣They’re taking orders ahead of time on WhatsApp. Get the details here.
• The Long Beach Post knows where to find tamales and traditional chocolate Mexican drink champurrado in LBC.
• Great White Rotisseria is giving away a six-piece Le Creuset dinnerware set. It’ll take a few steps though, head over to their Instagram for details.

• Newhall’s Original Saugus Cafe is in danger of closing permanently, reports Fox-11. It’s the oldest restaurant in LA County, built in 1886 as a train depot dining spot. The restaurant posted on Facebook that it needs outdoor dining to resume to stay in business; the community posted a GoFundMe to help in the effort.
• Toddrickallen noticed some changes over in Brentwood. The former Marsa Mediterranean Cuisine and Layali LA Hookah Cafe is now Westside Kitchens and Acqua on Wilshire.
• A new and vegan Taiwanese pop-up opened over the weekend in Hollywood called Love Boat Kitchen. Menu items include plant-based salt and pepper chicken with house made seitan, zha jiang mian noodles, and honey walnut “shrimp.”

• Crenshaw Mall Remodel Includes New Restaurants, But Divides the Community [ELA]