Who wouldn’t want to be in Inglewood Mayor James Butts' shoes?
With the Inglewood NFL Stadium already raising the city’s profile ahead of its scheduled opening in September 2019 and interest in local real estate mounting as a result, Inglewood is riding high.
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The $100M reno of the Forum, the former home of the LA Lakers and the LA Kings, is also adding higher visibility for Inglewood.
Madison Square Garden acquired the Forum from Inglewood's Faithful Central Bible Church four years ago.
Since then, thanks to a JV between Madison Square Garden and Live Nation, Billboard now rates the Forum as the No. 1 concert venue in events booked in greater LA, Mayor Butts tells Bisnow.
It is the No. 1 in the state and No. 2 in the US.
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Other good news for Inglewood: the city has had its "five lowest consecutive years of crime on record," Mayor Butts says.
The city has had its share of struggles over the years, including a history of being known for crime.
Mayor Butts says he was surprised at how swiftly Inglewood fell when the recession hit, followed by the housing-market crash.
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Mayor Butts has worked to change all that, including bringing in an entertainment anchor.
The nearly 300-acre Hollywood Park site, which is three times the size of Century City, will house the stadium and a movie theater; a hotel; 2,500 residential units; about 900k SF of office; and 900k to 1M SF of retail and fine dining, Mayor Butts says.
There will be two lakes, four public parks and a 6,000-seat performing arts theater.
Mayor Butts also envisions Market Street being like Old Town Pasadena with second-floor residential over first-floor retail space.
A developer already has plans in the works for a 177-unit, mixed-use property to be built at the corner of Market Street and Florence Avenue, according to Mayor Butts.
He also is not giving up hope on another sports team joining the LA Rams.
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With all of the growth in the area will come challenges. The biggest problem will be how to "successfully manage our success," so the developments coming in are synergistic, as opposed to competing with each other, Mayor Butts says.
For now, he says he's pleased Inglewood is "an extremely safe, progressive city" that’s well-run from a financial perspective.
When people heard the name Inglewood, they didn’t think of that before, "but that’s what we are," he says.
Hear more from Mayor Butts and our other speakers at Bisnow's The Future of SoCal daylong event Nov. 15 at LA's Millennium Biltmore Hotel.
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