Weingarten Realty Investors acquired The Westside Center near the close of 2015. Located in Los Angeles, California, the 36,540 square foot building isn’t the typical shopping center. With advantages ranging from rooftop parking to public transportation practically at its doorstep, The Westside Center deserves a formal introduction to the company. So here it is: the five most important things to know about The Westside Center.
1. Guitar Center
The Westside Center is home to one of Guitar Center’s flagship stores. With 25,200 square feet of showroom space, the store is double that of many Guitar Center locations. The company is in the midst of implementing a new store strategy based on hands-on experience. It’s a service concept that gives the store a huge advantage over both ecommerce and its competition. Several Guitar Center locations (and likely this flagship) will undergo a +/- $2 million interior renovation to accommodate lesson areas, music consulting, and equipment set-up assistance.
2. Parking
The Westside Center offers an impressive 125 parking stalls on-site for customers and employees. The parking equates to 3.42 stalls per 1,000 square feet GLA. Available parking greatly increases the appeal of the center, as parking in any city is difficult to find and metered city parking can limit the time consumers spend in stores.
3. Location
The Westside Center is positioned at the Northeast corner of Pico Blvd. and Westwood Blvd., which serves over 91,000 vehicles per day. The Westside Pavilion mall is across the street. The center is highly visible from both streets and benefits from nearly 220 feet of frontage.
4. Metro Rail (…Location)
The city is currently expanding the Metro Rail and constructing Exposition Transit Corridor Phase 2. The new line will include a station just +/- .04 miles from The Westside Center. The expansion is part of the Los Angeles Transit Neighborhood Plan, a $7.5 million campaign to shape development policy around the city’s new light rail lines. The campaign includes rezoning of The Westside Center and surrounding areas into Residential Accessory Services (RAS-4), or mixed use projects. The RAS-4 zoning will increase the population density near the center.
5. Demographics (…Location!)
The trade area has over 324,000 residents within a three-mile radius and neighbors affluent residential communities like Century City, Cheviot Hills, Beverlywood, and Beverly Hills. The average household income within the three-mile radius is $112,380, and median household value is over $1.2 million. Over 65% of residents hold a college degree.
