Everything was clicking for the South Bay economy in the latter half of the 1960s. Employment opportunities abounded, and residential and commercial development was booming.
Along the Hawthorne Blvd. retail corridor, the large outdoor South Bay Center had been a success since opening in 1957 in Redondo Beach. A couple miles further south, Torrance responded by opening the Del Amo Shopping Center on the southeast corner of Hawthorne Blvd. and Carson St. in 1959.
Business was brisk enough to support a neighboring center. Starting with the Bullock’s department store anchor store, the new Del Amo Fashion Center opened up directly across Carson on the northeast corner of the intersection with Hawthorne in 1966.
That same year, the Great Lakes Realty Corp., a division of the Great Lakes Carbon Corp. that operated an open-air diatomaceous soil mine on the Palos Verdes Peninsula for years, announced ambitious plans calling for a giant financial center on the northwest corner of Hawthorne and Carson.
The complex would be situated directly across Hawthorne from the two rapidly growing shopping centers. (The two centers would merge in 1981, making Del Amo Fashion Center the largest indoor mall in the world for the next 11 years.)
Great Lakes, in partnership with real estate development firm Guilford Glazer & Associates, officially broke ground for the $30 million project on March 12, 1966. Political bigwigs present at the ceremony included Rep. Alphonzo Bell, Los Angeles County Supervisor Burton Chace, and Torrance Mayor Albert Isen.
The first phase of the plan included a 13-story tower, which would become Torrance’s tallest building, a five-story circular building built over a below-ground parking garage with room for 683 cars, and four additional circular pavilions with a total of 56,000 square feet of office space.
The second phase called for two more towers and two additional pavilions. When completed, the financial center would have more than 1 million square feet of space. Los Angeles architectural firm Victor Gruen Associates designed the project.
By June 1966, more than 400,000 cubic yards of dirt had been unearthed from the site before foundations could begin to be laid. That total eventually would reach 700,000 cubic yards.
While the buildings were being erected, their future occupants began to be announced. The financial heavy hitters included Union Bank in the 13-story tower, United California Bank (UCB), and Western Federal Savings. Bank of America would open there during the second phase of development.
In addition to banks and savings and loans, the center also attracted its first stock brokerage firm when Bateman, Eichler, Hill Richards announced in June 1967 that it would open a branch office there.
Many others would follow suit over the years, including E.F. Hutton, Merrill Lynch and Fidelity Invesments. Several insurance firms also opened offices there, including branches of Equitable, Travelers and New York Life.
Western Federal became the first business to open its doors in the Center on June 30, 1967, followed by Union Bank on Aug. 21 of that year.
A boatload of political and business figures enjoyed a continental breakfast and many speeches at the center’s official grand opening on Sept. 20, 1967.
Fast forward to the 1990s, when the now-aging center was deteriorating physically and in need of a facelift. At some point before 1998, the San Diego company Southwest Value Partners purchased it, and remodeled it in 1998.
In 2005, Southwest successfully flipped the property, selling it to Jamison Properties for $68 million. Jamison immediately announced that it had no plans to make changes to the complex. Its interest in the center perhaps was spurred on by major remodeling plans announced by the massive Del Amo Fashion Center mall across the street.
Jamison apparently was true to its word, making little effort to upgrade the property over the next ten years. Several tenants moved out as a result. The complex was one-third vacant when Jamison sold the property in June 2015 to the San Diego real estate firms The Muller Co. and GreenOak Real Estate for $62.5 million.
Muller and GreenOak have since remodeled the center, and refashioned it from a strictly financial complex into more of a mixed-use business/retail/medical complex, which they have renamed “Del Amo Crossing.”
Del Amo Crossing now includes restaurants, some retail outlets and a two-story 24-Hour Fitness facility.
Sources:
Daily Breeze archives.
Palos Verdes Peninsula News archives.
Torrance Press-Herald archives.
Wikipedia.
