Galanter Opposition to Crenshaw Store Cited : Development: Builder says he could have brought in big furniture outlet. The councilwoman says she objected to traffic and other factors.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter refused to support a proposal that could have brought Ikea, the world’s largest furniture store, to the economically beleaguered Crenshaw area, saying the store would have generated too much traffic and would do “nothing for the community.”

Manhattan Beach developer Alexander Haagen had proposed to redevelop the Santa Barbara Plaza, a collection of rundown retail stores, social service centers and other facilities that has been losing business recently, and the Scandinavian firm Ikea had expressed interest in being included in the plan. When an Ikea store opened in November in a Haagen-developed mall in Burbank, it provided 360 jobs and grossed $2 million in revenue in its first six days of business.

The proposal, made in late 1988 or early 1989, and Galanter’s opposition to it were not widely known in the largely middle-class black community, an area that many say needs more--not less--development.

“It’s not to our advantage to block any department store from coming into this area,” said Millard Tatum, the president of the Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce. “That is the kind of traffic jams we need, especially if it is bringing revenues into our area.”

Haagen said the furniture giant was interested in taking part in a plan that would have allowed him to redevelop most of Santa Barbara Plaza, an aging shopping center across the street from Haagen’s $120-million Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza and close to the lucrative Westside market.

Haagen said he believed that a proven performer, such as Ikea, would have given the area the drawing power needed for him to persuade the Nordstrom chain to also open a store there. Nordstrom will soon be joining Ikea at a Haagen mall in Burbank.

“It would have done miracles for this (Crenshaw) community,” said Haagen, who said he made the proposal directly to Mayor Tom Bradley and Galanter. “I went with the interest of Nordstrom and Ikea to the (councilwoman) and the mayor, but she didn’t want it. (Galanter) said it would bring too much traffic.”

In a recent interview, Galanter acknowledged that she had been approached by Haagen, but said she was against the idea because of the traffic it would generate. “The people who live near the Westside Pavilion are grateful to have a Nordstrom nearby, but I’m sure they are not grateful to have the problems caused by the traffic,” she said.

But traffic was not the only problem Galanter said she had with Haagen’s proposal.

“It would provide a regional draw but do nothing for the community,” Galanter said. “It would have given the entire site to a European company, would have given it to Haagen, and he is neither local nor minority.”

After Galanter refused to give her blessing, Haagen dropped the proposal.

The 240,000-square-foot Ikea store in Haagen’s gigantic $300-million Media City Center shopping mall in Burbank, which drew 146,000 people in its first six days of business, is the first of four stores that Ikea plans to open in the Los Angeles area. Others are planned in Fontana, the Torrance area and Orange County.

At Galanter’s urging, the Los Angeles Redevelopment Agency commissioned an $80,000 study to look into other possible uses for the Santa Barbara Plaza.

But that plan is years away from offering any immediate help for Haagen’s Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, which has had difficulty attracting national retail tenants and local shoppers in the two years since its opening. Haagen developed the shopping center in partnership with the Redevelopment Agency.