57.5 F
Laguna Hills
Monday, Mar 18, 2024
-Advertisement-

Condos, Shops Going Up In Longtime Korean Hub

Garden Grove officials and Korean-American groups are looking to a proposed condominium and shops development to renew Orange County’s historical Korean enclave, Little Seoul.

At eight stories, Garden Grove Galleria stands to tower over the strip malls and Korean businesses that line Garden Grove Boulevard between Beach Boulevard and Brookhurst Street.

The $50 million project is backed by a trio of Korean-American companies: developer Theodore Investment Properties Inc. of Los Angeles, Archia-Crea Inc., a Los Angeles architect, and Garden Grove’s Sunny Realty LLC.

Plans call for 66 condos on three stories above 130,000 square feet of store space, plus a four-story parking garage.

“Garden Grove Galleria is being built in one of the most important commercial areas for Koreans in Orange County,” said Sung Jun Yoo, Archia-Crea’s principal. “They all know about Garden Grove and some want to own businesses there or live nearby because it’s convenient.”

That’s the hope.

After booming in the 1970s and ’80s, the area, also know as the Korean Business District, now competes with growing Korean hubs in Fullerton, Irvine and Buena Park.

About 4% of Garden Grove’s 170,000 residents are Korean, or about 6,240 people. Compare that to Fullerton’s 9,000 Koreans who make up 14% of the city, Irvine’s 7,593 at 4% and Buena Park’s 4,965, or about 6% of the population there.

“There are Koreans all over Orange County and more of them are opening businesses in Fullerton and Buena Park,” said Steve Kwon, secretary of the Korean American Chamber of Commerce in Garden Grove. “People used to have to drive all the way to Garden Grove to buy groceries or eat at Korean restaurants. But they don’t have to now.”

The Garden Grove Galleria could draw more Koreans to Garden Grove, Kwon said.

The project was approved by the city last summer. Developers got their construction permit in January.

Early grading is done, according to Ted Yoon, chief executive of Theodore Investment Properties. Construction is set to start this month and finish in fall 2008.

Plans for the project have been in the works for the past four years, according to Yoon. He said he expects a majority of Garden Grove Galleria’s businesses and residents to be Korean.

The project could host a variety of Korean-owned businesses such as Well Being Food Grocery, an Asian-inspired organic health food store, he said.

The project is being built on Garden Grove Boulevard east of the Ramada Plaza Hotel near Brookhurst Street. Plans call for condos with two to three bedrooms and two to three bathrooms. They’ll range from 1,100 square feet to 1,500 square feet in size and sell for $600,000 and up.

A basketball court, gym, swimming pool, community hall and gardens are planned, Archia-Crea’s Yoo said.


Early Sales

Twenty-two of Garden Grove Galleria’s condos went on sale in November and sold to Koreans, said Charles Kim, Sunny Realty’s chief executive.

The second phase of condos is set to go on sale later this year. Kim said he anticipates Koreans to be the majority of buyers for those, too.

“We’re getting a lot of interest from first generation Koreans and some second generation professionals,” he said. “With some of the first generation Koreans, they have limited English skills, which is why they want to move into this ethnic enclave.”

Garden Grove Galleria couldn’t have come at a better time, according to Chet Yoshizaki, Garden Grove’s director of economic development. The city has explored several programs to encourage the revitalization of Garden Grove Boulevard in the past four years, he said.

Officials have urged Korean business owners to make improvements to their businesses by upgrading landscaping, lighting and buildings.

“All throughout California there are several shops that have developed along major boulevards, and after 30 years, it’s important to keep them viable,” Yoshizaki said. “The Garden Grove Galleria will be a significant project for the Korean Business District. It’s one of the first mixed-use projects along Garden Grove Boulevard. It’s dense, but it will contribute to Garden Grove Boulevard’s renaissance.”

The area has seen an influx of Vietnamese businesses in the past two to three years, Yoshizaki said. The businesses are an outgrowth of Little Saigon, which covers parts of Garden Grove and neighboring cities.

About 20% or 35,406 of Garden Grove’s 165,196 residents are Vietnamese.

Other projects near Little Seoul are seen boosting the area, Yoshizaki said. He pointed to the $300 million Brookhurst Triangle project developed by Long Beach-based Urban Pacific Builders LLC and a two-story commercial building developed by John Kim, a doctor.

“All of these projects, including the Garden Grove Galleria, will really feed off each other and improve Garden Grove and the Korean Business District,” he said.

Little Seoul has more than 1,000 Korean-owned grocery stores, restaurants, banks, insurance agencies and boutiques that generate about $200 million in yearly revenue, according to the Korean American Coalition of Orange County.

In 2002, Garden Grove designated the area as the Korean Business District.

Many businesses and residents moved down from Koreatown in Los Angeles decades ago.

Another wave came after the 1992 riots, which damaged nearly 2,000 Korean-owned businesses. One-third of the affected owners moved to OC, according to Jong Min Kang, president of the Korean American Business Association.

Euiwon Chough of the Korean American Chamber of Commerce said the Garden Grove Galleria and the nearby developments could lure back Koreans who left Garden Grove for Fullerton, Irvine or Buena Park.

“There’s a lot of development going on in Garden Grove and it’s really boosting up the Korean community,” he said. “I think more Koreans will want to move to Garden Grove with all of the projects that are going on. It’s really exciting.”

Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country?

Sign-up for our FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox!

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-