Ground Broken for Shopping Center
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After a long wait and a bitter fight over a few million dollars, Pasadena officials joined developers Danny Bakewell and Lonnie Bunkley on Friday in a ground-breaking ceremony for a shopping center.
The Fair Grove Renaissance Plaza, a 5.1-acre project, is expected to serve as the “anchor of the northwest Pasadena community,” Mayor William Paparian said.
The plaza, which will include a Vons supermarket, had been the subject of many contentious late-night council meetings--including one meeting in which Bakewell was denied a $71,000 loan to pay for clearing the city-owned site.
The city sold the $11-million property to Bakewell for $1.5 million and granted him $122,000 to clear the site. Many community members were outraged by the request for additional funds.
“But that was all water under the bridge,” Councilman Paul Little said. “At this point everyone is just looking forward to the store.”
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